Animorphs: A Reality Morph
by GooseWeasel
Summary: Now that the Animorphs have met the Doctor, Rose Tyler, and the TARDIS, the fight against the Yeerk invasion is about to change drastically. Jake and the others aren't sure if these new 'aliens' can be trusted, and clashes occur over differing opinions on how to handle the Yeerks.
1. Jake

{Is this guy for real?} Tobias asked in private thought speak.

I shrugged. We were in a spaceship that was bigger on the inside, and our resident alien Ax had been in state of shocked silence since we walked through the door. Things had gotten a little out of our area of expertise at this point. The Doctor, the man or alien or whatever, had cheerfully welcomed us into his ship. Now he smiled and looked at us like a teacher turning to his class.

"Right, any questions so far?"

_Earlier…_

My name is Jake. And it had been a really, really long week. Like most kids my age, I didn't really like when the stomach flu had me puking my guts out all night. Unlike most kids my age, I had to do that while leading the human race's only resistance against an alien invasion.

Yeah. It sounds weird to me too.

I don't like being the leader. I wouldn't have chosen it, not for all the money or video games in the world. I guess Cassie would say that's what makes me a good leader. And Marco would tell me that I should have held out for supermodels…

The thing is, someone had to do it. Step up and keep my friends, the Animorphs, alive. We were trying to keep humanity safe from the Yeerks. They looked like giant slugs, but they were actually a race of alien parasites. They crawl in your ear and then your brain. Once inside, they control you completely. A Yeerk knows every thought, every secret that its host has ever had. And they use that knowledge to stay hidden in plain sight. They force their hosts to do horrible things- betray their friends and family. The entire human race. We called the people they infested Controllers. It was almost impossible to tell who might be one of them. It could be your best friend. Your babysitter. The little old lady who lived across the street and had too many cats.

My brother Tom was one of them.

We don't trust anyone. We can't. Not since the night we cut through an abandoned construction on the way home from the mall. We watched as a doomed Andalite Prince named Elfangor crash-landed his ship.

The Andalites were another species of alien. They fought against the Yeerks, all over the galaxy, trying to stop them. Elfangor died- was murdered by Visser Three. Before that he gave us the only thing he had that might help us fight back. Using the blue box we call 'the morphing cube', he gave us the ability to morph. We could turn into any animal, so long as we touched them to acquire their DNA first. With its power, we had managed to survive this long. And one day, hopefully, the Andalite fleet would return to defeat the Yeerks.

But until then, we had to fight. And that meant someone had to make the hard decisions. The kind of decisions that could end up getting one or more of us killed. Or infested and turned into Controllers. Or stuck in a morph, like Tobias. He was a red-tail hawk now, permanently. There were hundreds of horrible, painful ways we could fail. Somehow, it became my job to decide which ones we would risk as we struggled to save the Earth.

But it never occurred to me that getting the flu might get us killed.

So when Cassie called and told me that everyone was safe, I tried really hard not to notice the worried tone in her voice. I wanted to feel relieved- I just managed to eat solid food for the first time in two days. All had gone according to plan, or as much to plan as anything ever does. Maybe it was just what was left of my fever. Maybe I imagined her voice cracking just a bit when she told me that Erek even helped. She couldn't be too specific, since we didn't know who might be listening on the phone. But it sounded like Erek even figured out a way to keep Aftran alive outside the Yeerk Pool.

But then Cassie said that we needed to have a meeting when everyone was feeling better. During the mission she had learned something big. Maybe I imagined that she sounded nervous. But thing is, when you're an Animorph, you learn one thing really quickly-

Something big was never something good.

It took another day for us all to recover from being sick. Tobias was still feeling a little under the weather. I wasn't sure if that was because he got sick last or if it was because he was a red-tailed hawk. Either way, he had apparently warned Cassie, quite vividly, what would happen to her vet parents if they ever tried to stick a pill up... Well, Cassie said he was quite descriptive.

We met in Cassie's family's barn, known as The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Her parents worked at The Gardens, a local zoo-slash-amusement-park. But in their spare time, they also took care of injured local wildlife. Skunks that had been hit by cars, wolves that ate something poisonous, etc. Cassie helped them out as much as she could. I thought it was amazing, how much she knew about animals. Cassie probably learned how to medicate a raccoon before she learned to read.

I think I've morphed every animal in the barn by now. Even the flies that were buzzing around the empty horse stalls...

Once Tobias had made sure the coast was clear, Cassie stood up. She paced in front of us, wringing her hands. "So… I know I said that everything was fine. That I managed to get Aftran out by myself. But, the thing is… that's not completely true…"

Rachel, my cousin and Cassie's best friend, smiled and leaned forward in her seat. Despite having spent just as much time bent over a toilet as I had the past few days, Rachel looked like a super-model.

"So what happened? Did Erek and the Chee have to come and provide a little back up, or what? It's no big deal," Rachel laughed. "Even I would have had a hard time doing all that by myself."

"Yeah well, you would have just stomped your way in," teased Marco.

"Right!" said Rachel, ignoring Marco's jab in favor of cheering up Cassie. "And since Yeerks haven't come knocking on any of our doors, it can't have gone that bad."

Cassie still looked down at her feet, which only made me worry more. Rachel was right. If the Yeerks had found out who we were, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. We'd be face down in the Yeerk Pool with slugs crawling into each of our ears. But still…

Tom… the Yeerk controlling Tom… well, I hadn't thought about it, because I was sick. I had just chalked it up to 'normal Yeerk' behavior. But he was more agitated than usual this morning. He had brushed my parents off and walked out the door in the middle of their questions. It hadn't bothered me at the time and my parents said he was just being a defiant teenager. Maybe I just wanted to ignore it.

{You'll feel better if you just say it, Cassie,} Tobias said.

Cassie took deep breath and nodded. "I met more aliens. They helped me save Aftran and get back in time to operate on Ax," she said. "Erek met them too. They look human but... they said their names were Rose Tyler and… the Doctor."

She inhaled, and stammered the rest out. "Their technology- it's like nothing we've seen. Nothing the Yeerks or Erek have ever seen, either. And… and they both know. Who we are. What we do. Because I told them."

30 minutes of rapid fire questioning and repeated use of the word 'insane' later, we decided that there was nothing to do but go see for ourselves. These aliens. It wasn't entirely clear if they were or not. Cassie was confident that the Doctor, at least, was not from Earth. But Rose Tyler could be from Earth in different dimension, which was weird enough. Cassie wasn't sure how to explain. Either way, we needed to meet them.

_Now…_

"Yeah, I've got a question," Marco said, "Why should we believe any of this? This could be a trick, a trap, whatever."

I was wondering the same thing. I wasn't sure what to expect. And then Cassie led us to a telephone box in the middle of the woods. Like the kind from the old Superman movies, only blue. It seemed impossible that it could actually be a space ship- but it was. A space ship that was much, much bigger than it appeared from the outside. It was impressive, yes. But then…

As strange as the ship was, it was nothing compared to the man called the Doctor. He was… giddy. Like a little kid. Confident, cheerful and warm. I had trouble believing he could fight anybody.

He introduced himself in a whirlwind, then nonchalantly assured us he would help defeat the Yeerks. As if it was something that he did every day. Rose Tyler was at least calm, but she was still unnerving. She had so much confidence about her. And they both had English accents…? Like James Bond meets Star Trek meets just plain weird. I wasn't sure what to make of any of it.

"Yeah, I mean, no offense," Rachel added, "I trust Cassie, and this-" She gestured around her, looking almost frustrated by the absurdness of the ship. "It's all impressive. But you don't seem like the type of person who can just show up and end an intergalactic war."

"Oh!" the Doctor objected, clearly offended. "And I suppose if I looked more like a Sontaran you'd believe me!"

"A what now?"

"It's another kind of alien," Rose explained.

{I have never heard of any species by that name, Prince Jake.} Ax was pawing nervously at the ship's metal floor. His tail twitched. He was uncomfortable with the whole thing from the beginning. Meeting the Doctor and Rose had done nothing but make him more anxious.

At least I knew Erek trusted them. He was a Chee android, a complete pacifist, programmed to be incapable of violence. But that didn't mean he or the other Chee were naïve or foolish. They spied on the Yeerks for us. Erek would have heard something if they were working for the Yeerks. According to Cassie, he had visited them here already as well.

"Prince…?" Rose began, but Rachel interrupted.

"Why are you so eager to help anyway?" Rachel crossed her arms, staring down both of them.

"It just what we do, yeah?" said Rose. She stepped forward, just a little in front of the Doctor. She was defending him from us, I realized. It would have been funny if things weren't so serious.

Now that the Doctor was standing still, I managed to actually get a good look at him. His face was so cheerful. But… Maybe I was projecting a little of myself onto him. Or maybe I was just desperate to believe all the promises he made to us were true. I don't know.

But when you've been fighting in a war this long, you know how to recognize a fellow warrior. I wasn't sure- not completely. But there was something there that made me want to know how much he understood.

"Look... I mean, it's not that we're not grateful for all you've done," I began. "But this isn't exactly a picnic. We're all the Earth has got," I turned and addressed the Doctor directly now. "The people we love- the whole human race will all be slaves to the Yeerks if we make even one mistake. We can't afford to take any risks, not with what's at stake here."

The Doctor met my eyes. And I knew- we both knew, I think, right then. Both of us saw something in the other that reminded us of ourselves. We both knew what it costs to fight in a war- and what it costs to be a leader in one.

"Well, let me show you then," he said, turning to address us all. "Anywhere you want to go, all of space, although unfortunately not time. Not presently, anyway."

Grinning, he fiddled with a small tool and tapped it on the round console in the center of the room. There more buttons and levers and dials then I had ever seen. I could hear a faint humming noise- I thought maybe it was coming from the giant, green-glowing glass tube in the center.

"Umm…" I said.

None of us knew what to say. Ax might have had a suggestion, but he had been quiet this entire time. He wasn't happy with any of this. It wasn't just nerves. Andalites were suspicious of anyone outside their species- particularly those who might steal their technology.

"You know, our knowledge of 'all of space' is pretty limited," Marco said. "And every trip we've made to another planet has ended with us running away in terror."

"Leera was actually really pretty," Cassie said, "But I'm pretty sure we shouldn't go back there again anytime soon."

"Ax? Any ideas?" I asked. Might as well get him talking sooner rather than later.

{I do not have unlimited knowledge of space, Prince Jake,} replied Ax curtly. {That would be impossible.}

"Ax, don't call me Prince."

I swore for a second the Doctor wanted to correct him, and let myself smile just a bit.

{Yes, Prince Jake. However, if this… ship's… capabilities are indeed as the Doctor claims, I believe I have a suggestion.}

"Do we finally get to see the mythical, majestic, perfect Andalite homeworld?" Marco chimed in, voice dripping with sarcasm.

The Doctor and Rose looked curious, both at the suggestion and Marco's sarcasm. If Ax picked up on the tone, he didn't show it.

{No. My people are suspicious of strangers. And it's extremely… uncommon… for my home world to receive any non-Andalite visitors. Humans alone would cause an uproar amongst my people, given the current situation with Earth.} All four of Ax's eyes turned to look directly at the Doctor now. {A visitor with technology as foreign as this would likely start planet-wide panic.}

The Doctor and Rose seemed a little disappointed, but I don't think any of us were surprised. They were the good guys, but Andalites weren't always too friendly towards strangers.

"Bummer," Marco said flatly.

"So where then? I'd say the planet of shopping, but trust me-" Rachel grimaced at the memory. "It's not as awesome as it sounds."

"Pick somewhere fun, yeah?" suggested Rose, smiling, "Aliens and space aren't always about fighting a war."

{Fun would be pleasant change,} Tobias said, {What do you think Ax-man?}

{I do have a suggestion. A planet called Gaimarf Estreen Esofi.} he said. {A natural wonder, quite impressive aesthetically}.

He paused. For second, he sounded almost, well, excited, by the thought. Rachel noticed too, and laughed.

"So we're going to Andalite Disney World?"

Ax's face turned a shade darker.

{It would be more accurately described as our version of your Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls,} he explained. {But I have wanted to see it since I was young.}

"Oh, brilliant!" The Doctor beamed. He pressed a serious of buttons and swung a square screen around to face us. A bunch of strange symbols and grids appeared- something to do with space travel I guess. "Would you point it out for me, Aximili?"

{Of course.} Ax walked over to the screen, his hoofs echoing against the metal floors. I looked at my friends. Rachel leaned against the railing next to Cassie and Rose. Marco was still grumpy, but well, I kind of expected that. He was my best friend, but he wasn't exactly what you'd call an optimist. Tobias also looked grumpy. But he was a hawk. It was kind of a permanent expression. He hadn't said anything to us privately, so I guess he was feeling okay about everything.

"Oh!" Rose cried out suddenly, "I almost forgot about Aftran! I should go ask if she wants to come, I can let her ride along in me. Or with you, if you'd like, Cassie. I think she'd like to see something new, yeah?"

My jaw dropped. I saw Rachel and Marco staring at the British girl like she was speaking Chinese. Ax spun both stalk eyes around, staring at her looking horrified. It almost looked like he might puke, or at least it would have if he had a mouth.

{You would invite a Yeerk into your head?! Willingly? Has Cassie not informed you what they are capable of?}

And then Rose looked… offended. I mean, I knew Ax's hatred for the Yeerks ran deep. I could understand that. There were a lot of times where I felt the same way. I'd even had a Yeerk in my head, once. There had been an accident and I ended up a Controller. I was held hostage by a Yeerk who had at one time controlled my brother. My friends saved me by starving it out of my head. They guarded me for three days until it succumbed to the lack of Kandrona rays. But not before the Yeerk tormented me with Tom's memories. He force me to listen to my brother beg and cry and eventually lose all hope of ever being free.

Yeah, Rose didn't have the same history with the Yeerks that we did. But she and the Doctor- and he looked upset by Ax's comment too, I saw- they had been to the Yeerk Pool. They had fought Visser Three. Aftran was on our side, but… well, I wasn't sure I got it.

"Unless you've got a better way for her to get out of her box and have a look around. I'm not about to leave her behind just because it's a bit uncomfortable," Rose retorted.

"A bit uncomfortable?" Marco repeated. "A bit uncomfortable? Um, are you both insane? Because I feel as the though the experience of having a parasitic slug that can control your every move and read your every thought in your head might qualify as more than 'a bit uncomfortable'"

"Rose is right," said Cassie, speaking up for the first time since we had entered the ship. "Aftran would love the experience. And she and Rose went through a lot together in the Yeerk Pool. They understand each other's boundaries."

Okay, Cassie was probably right. After all, she understood Aftran from the beginning. And I trusted her instincts on this, too. We all did. Except maybe Ax, but that was another thing. Understanding it didn't stop me from feeling uneasy though. Did the Doctor and Rose really understand how serious the Yeerk invasion was?

"So! Gaimarf Estreen Esofi! A quick holiday, and then we'll get everything sorted out here on Earth!"

The Doctor spun around and started hitting buttons. Behind me, the doors of the ship swung shut. Ax had apparently given him the coordinates to find wherever it was we were going.

Then I saw both Cassie and Rose grab onto the railing. I didn't know why- but I quickly did the same. The Doctor flipped a lever and called out.

"Allons-y everyone!"

"He speaks French?" Rachel managed to mutter before a loud… whooshing? wheezing? This noise echoed around us. Everything began to rattle and shake. I immediately understood why everyone was holding on to something. My legs almost fell out from under me.

VWOOOOORP! VWOOOOOORP! VWOOOOOOORP!

{OH FU-} Tobias had fallen off the rafter and now flapped wildly around the room.

I saw Rachel on the floor grabbing onto Cassie's leg in attempt to hold on. Even Ax's hoofs stumbled and slid. The Doctor seemed unperturbed. He ran around hitting buttons and flipping switches as he leaned onto the console.

And then it stopped.

Tobias flared manage to grab onto a piece of foam that may have been duct-taped to the rail.

Marco had fallen on his butt and was not happy about it. "Did we crash? We better have crashed. Sir, I am going to have to see your driver's license. I have flown in spaceships. That is not how spaceships fly."

{You could have warned me}. Tobias fluffed up angrily and glared at us one by one, as if we could have known that was about to happen.

"So sorry!" Rose said, "I thought maybe Cassie would have mentioned-"

"-I thought you would like to surprise them-" Cassie laughed. Tobias shot her a dirty look.

"Weeelll, I did hope you hadn't," the Doctor confessed. "This old girl, she likes to show off. Well, we both do."

Tobias continued to stare daggers at the Doctor, who shrugged and smiled.

From her place on the floor, Rachel was laughing. She pulled herself upright, then walked over to Tobias. "Marco is waaaaay worse. Trust me," she chuckled. Gently, she smoothed out a few of Tobias's feathers.

"It's nothing personal. I'm actually a remarkably good pilot, all things considered. The TARDIS is just a lot of work. Worth it, though." The Doctor leaned forward and patted the giant glowing tube in the center affectionately.

Rose rolled her eyes, then pointed to the door. "Well, go on! Take a look!"

I turned and stared at the double doors. There was no sign we had moved at all now that the rattling had stopped.

"It's someone else's turn," said Cassie. Then everyone turned to look at me.

"After you, O Fearless Leader," said Marco, rubbing his elbow where it smacked into the floor.

"Right…" I said, trying not to sound nervous.

I guess this was part of the job. Going in first and leading the way when no one else wanted to. I saw Rose walk over to a corner of the room and reach her hand into a small, water-filled tank. I hadn't noticed it until now. Aftran. It would be good to distract everyone while Rose let her crawl into her head…

Taking a deep breath, I walked over to the doors, trying to look more confident than I felt. At least Cassie seemed sure that things had gone well. That was something, at least. I hesitated, then opened the doors.

"Whoa."


	2. Rachel

Rachel

"You know, for as stiff and humorless as Andalites are, they do have this whole 'natural wonder' thing down," I mused. "I think I might need to buy a sweater in that color there. Or a dress. Whole new wardrobe even."

I pointed to the flowers that covered the trunks of the strange, slender, alien trees that spread out in a wide grove around us. They were large, but delicate, and were a shade of color that somehow managed silver, blue, green, and pink all at once.

"We can check the gift shop on the way out," Marco suggested sarcastically.

{I do not believe there are gift shops here, Marco,} Ax said. {The enjoyment is meant to come the natural environment, not the purchase of goods.}

"Sarcasm, Ax-man, sarcasm."

Ahead of us, I could see a clearing. Several small streams wove through each other, into the woods and then back out into the field again. But they flowed in unnatural, perfectly curved loops. Occasionally, one crisscrossed over the others. They looked like rings on a tree or maybe a spider web.

My name is Rachel, by the way. And of everything alien I had seen, this place was definitely the most beautiful.

"They probably don't even have my size," I muttered."Finding stuff that fits just right is hard enough on Earth. And human isn't the standard fit in this part of the universe."

"I swear, sometimes that's the worst part of space travel," joked Rose. "All the best outfits end up on the least human-shaped species, you know?"

"So tragic," I heard Cassie call out from behind us.

Cassie was my best friend, but she was more comfortable mucking out a horse stable than she was shopping at the mall. She wore stained overalls most days. I was Miss Fashion, or at least I used to be. Before the war, nothing made me happier than scoring major deals on clothes. Now, well… things had changed. I was a soldier, fighting against the Yeerks. I was going to make sure that my side won, no matter what it took. Fashion wasn't quite as important anymore.

Cassie was still lingering in the thickest part of the forest, watching some silver bat-like creatures flying agilely through the trees branches. They drank the nectar from the flowers like hummingbirds, then landed on all four limbs to scurry around on the moss-covered, woven branches. Where the moss ended, large silver leaves grew, and the bats hid there when not flying. Cassie tried to coax one down, but to no avail. I thought I saw Tobias watching them as he flew overhead. For different reasons, obviously.

{You guys need to check this place out from up here,} called out Tobias.

I could see occasional flashes of red and brown between the silver leaves overhead.

{It seriously looks like a painting. You know that one with all the stars and curls? By that guy who cut his ear off or something.}

"Oh, Vincent Van Gogh!" exclaimed the Doctor, smiling, "You know, I've always wanted to meet him. We should go, Rose, once we get back!"

Rose laughed. As we walked, she told us how she had pretty much run away from home to join the Doctor on his adventures. I couldn't say I blamed her for it. The ordinary, normal world that most people knew was boring compared to this. And well, for all the weirdness and science fiction, the Doctor was hot. The messy hair, gorgeous smile… an older guy too. I mean, okay, yeah, he was an alien. But an alien with a gorgeous accent…

Plus, I was pretty much dating a guy who spent most of his time as a hawk. I couldn't judge.

And his ship, the TARDIS or whatever, had instantly brought us to a planet so far away that Ax insisted it should have taken weeks. He was pretty bitter sounding about it, too. It was impressive. Really impressive.

Cassie had said that the Doctor scared the crap out of Visser Three down in the Yeerk Pool. Anyone who could do that was someone I wanted on our team. We could definitely use that advantage in a fight. Which gave me an idea…

"Hey Ax," I said, "Are there any animals here that would be useful for a fight? Like some kind of big super-predator or something?"

"You would ask that, Xena," Marco groaned. "Can't we just relax for five minutes without talking about tactical advantages?"

"Hey, I'm just being prepared," I retorted, "Any extra firepower helps."

"Well," said Cassie. "If there's something here that can eat us, I'd kind of like to know about it."

"I would also prefer not to eaten, please," said Rose.

"Frankly, it'd be a touch embarrassing after all the things we've survived," added the Doctor. "Completely ruin my reputation and everything."

Marco sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes. He picked up a small round rock and skipped it up one of the streams. It made perfect, literally perfect ripples before it struck another rock and sank.

"Ax?" Jake asked.

{Most of the species here are either herbivores or insectivores, Prince Jake," Ax answered.

Even though he wasn't happy about the Doctor or Rose or the TARDIS or any of it- he was having a hard time focusing on being suspicious. His eyes were practically glowing with excitement.

{The only predators are too small to be of much concern, at least for creatures of our size, Prince Jake. However, Tobias should keep a look out for any larger kalitrir birds. They are orange, and quite large. I hear their beaks are quite long.}

{Gotcha,} said Tobias.

I heard Jake sigh. "Ax, don't call me Prince in front of the new people. They're going to get the wrong idea."

"I assume from your tone that you are not actually a member of a royal family, yeah?"

The Doctor and Rose were both smirking at Jake. The rest of just laughed as he sighed even louder now.

"It's an Andalite thing. The equivalent of a general or a captain or whatever. Since I sort of ended up in charge of this crazy train-"

"Emphasis on crazy," added Marco.

"Right. It's a term of respect, but I'd really, really prefer if you didn't use it Ax."

{Yes, Prince Jake.} He definitely said that one on purpose.

Everyone laughed, especially Rose and the Doctor. I guess 'Prince' wasn't any weirder than just going by'the Doctor'.

The forest had completely given way to an open field. The spirals of water grew smaller and smaller, then formed a small pool where they all met up. Instead of grass, the ground was covered in greenish-purple broad leaved plants, with an occasional yellow flower poking out. Ax ran ahead of us some, looking the happiest I've ever seen him, if you didn't count the times at the mall food court where he ate everything in sight. He practically skipped over a small circle of boulders.

"Seriously, how is this place even real?" Jake marveled, lingering back a so he could keep an eye on Cassie. "Isn't nature supposed to be like, random or whatever?"

"It's always surprising," chuckled the Doctor. "With all that infinite randomness in the universe, there's got to be stuff that's well... not-random."

"It's incredible though. You'd be amazed at some of the things we've seen, Your Highness," Rose added with a sly grin.

Marco snorted as Rose giggled and winked at Jake. He sighed and shook his head.

We walked further into the fields. The Doctor bent down and plucked one of the yellow flowers, twirling it between his fingers before handing it to Rose. They were so adorable. It'd be annoying if it weren't so sincere.

"I can see why the Andalites like it though," Marco said. "Nature and order, it's a humorless tree-hugger's dream."

{It just keeps going like this, too, so far as I can see,} said Tobias. He swooped down to land on a rock that had formed into a narrow arch. His talons wrapped around perfectly, like it was put there for that specific purpose.

{Not an ugly thing anywhere,} he continued. {I'd almost feel bad eating one of the little critters running around here.}

"Almost," I grinned.

{Hey, a hawk's gotta eat,} Tobias chuckled.

"Did that take some getting used to? I mean, space food was tricky enough, yeah?" Rose asked. "But I didn't have to go out and well… kill it myself."

{Well, the hawk part of me never got the hang of eating hamburgers, so I adjusted. No big deal. Having wings makes up for it.}

"Speaking of, I think I'm coming up to join you," I said.

I pulled off my outer layer of clothes, until all I was wearing was my morphing suit. The outlines of bald eagle feathers began to spread out in a pattern over my skin.

"Oh! That is just brilliant! I had been hoping to get a better look at how the process worked…"

The Doctor pulled out a pair of glasses. He was engrossed by it, watching as the bones in my arms shrank and hollowed. Rose came over to take a closer look just as my legs shrank down to tiny, eagle-sized ones. Her face was a mixture of fascination and horrified concern. I knew why- morphing was almost never pretty or predictable. Cassie was the only one who could manage to do it well.

"Does it feel as bad as it looks?" asked Rose as my eyes swelled and shifted in my skull.

"Naah-aaawghk!" My lips stretched forward to form a hard, curved yellow beak before I could respond.

"You can't feel anything, it just looks gross. You should see when we do the fly," laughed Marco. He shuddered at the memory.

Rose bit her lip, still worried, and watched as I finished the morph.

I spread my wings out as wide as they could go, showing off just a little. With a just few flaps, all seven feet of my wingspan caught the air and I took off. The air was warm and that helped me power higher and higher.

"That's amazing. She's an eagle, yeah?" I heard Rose asking below me and chuckled internally.

{A bald eagle,} I clarified, {It's very American.}

{Hey, there are a lot more red-tailed hawks running around the good old USA than there are bald eagles. I think I'm gonna vote for a change of our national animal.}

Tobias had taken off to follow me. Compared to me, he looked like a pigeon- but he had a lot more flight experience than I did. He was able to catch up in moments.

{Whatever hawk-boy! Don't be jealous that I'm the one they put on the stationary!}

I could hear the Doctor nearly choke from laughing. Soon, they all began to look like ants. But with an eagle's eyes, I could still see every hair on their heads. I scanned the wide alien landscape. Everything was brightly colored and laid out in artistic swirls. Even the mountains in the distance curved upwards in strange and unnatural curls.

{See,} said Tobias, speaking only to me now, {Just like that van Gogh guy. Artwork, as far as the hawk eyes can see.}

A herd of animals ran through the fields and across another set of spider web streams, almost a mile away. They looked like darker, shorter giraffes. I saw the TARDIS, parked where the Doctor had left it and just as out of place here as it was in the woods near Cassie's barn.

{Does he really think that counts as camouflage? I bet it doesn't even look normal in England or Great Britain or where ever.}

{I mean it is a pretty decent cloaking system. It doesn't look like a space ship,} said Tobias, flying in a lazy circle above me now. {Ax was impressed, at least. He thought it was idiotic, but he was impressed.}

{Ax just doesn't like it when Andalite technology gets shown up,} I laughed.

{Yeah, well, that too. He's nervous about all this, but I think the road trip is good for him.}

Tobias chuckled. Below us, I saw that Ax had finished circling the field below, and returned to the others. The Doctor was now staring at his hooves and had pulled out his glasses again. He bent down to take a closer look.

{I think he just found how Andalites managed to eat without mouths,} I said, and Tobias laughed.

I couldn't blame him. The hoof-absorption thing was kind of weird for us too. The Doctor didn't look weirded out though. He was… giddy. Like a little kid. He claimed to have seen the whole universe, but here he was acting like... well, me at a 50% sale. Rose just watched him. I'm sure she was just as curious, but at least she acted respectful. Calmer. I don't know. Maybe she actually understood that as nice as things were now, we were still in the middle of a war. Or she just understood personal space.

{Do you think we can trust them?} I asked Tobias.

{Well, it's not like we have much of choice at this point,} he replied. That didn't answer my question.

{Grizzly is always an option…} I pressed on.

{Yeah, well, let's maybe save that for a last resort.} Tobias sighed wearily before he continued. {I don't know. Cassie trusts them. And I trust Cassie's instincts for this kind of thing. But they're not from our world. Not even our universe, if what they said is true. That makes things a lot harder to predict.}

{Yeah. I'm not exactly in a hurry to have a repeat of… you know.}

I didn't want to say it, but I knew Tobias understood. David, the last person we had trusted with our secret. The boy we had given the morphing ability to a while back. We tried to help him after his parents were turned into Controllers. Made him an Animorph. It hadn't ended well. Before he could betray us to the Yeerks. we… I had to do some horrible things, in the end.

I still hear him screaming sometimes, in my nightmares.

{Yeah… none of us are,} Tobias reassured me.

We flew over top of what looked like a hot spring, and Tobias caught a thermal. He rose higher and higher, the the warm air pushing him up. Even the temperature here was perfect. It was starting to feel unsettling.

{I guess we keep an eye on the situation. Wait and see, for now,} he said.

{Pretty sure that's our only option at this point,} I replied, laughing.

I looked down and saw everyone staring up at us across the open purple-green field. The Doctor and Rose looked particularly in awe. Jealous even. Suddenly, I had an idea. I shifted my wings to soar up level with Tobias. I knew how to make them even more jealous.

{You know, since we've got a captive audience… I'll race you back down!}

I didn't bother to wait for his response. I turned down into a sharp dive, and the air blowing past became a rush of noise and pressure.

{HA!} yelled Tobias, wooshing past me like a red and brown bullet.

Bald eagles may be some of the largest birds of prey, but they weren't the fastest by the long shot. Still it was easy to forget that as I rocketed towards the ground at over 70 mph.

"TSEEEEER!"

Tobias screamed before turning to coast inches over the top of our audience's heads. There wasn't a person or bird alive that could fly better than him. I didn't trust myself to get that close, but the bald eagle's huge wingspan was impressive enough. I slowed down and leveled out, flying well above the group before swerving back around to land. Rose and the Doctor were actually clapping.

"Molto Bene! Bravo!"

"You make it look so effortless," said Rose. She did look jealous.

{The eagle brain does most of the work,} I admitted. {But yeah, we're pretty much coolest things on Planet Earth.}

{I'm the best though. Lots of practice,} Tobias bragged, now circling above us again.

"Whatever, Bird-boy," said Marco, "Just try not to scalp us next time."

{Marco, you had the least to worry about that,} Tobias countered. {I'd have to plow through the Doctor's skull to even get close to your height.}

"Ha ha. Very original."

I began to demorph. My flesh expanded and distorted as the feathers melted back into my skin. This time, the Doctor didn't come as close, but he still stared, just a curious as before. He was fiddling with a metal, alien-looking tube in his hands.

"Oh gross!" said Rose, "I mean, it's not as bad the second time, yeah? But all the same…"

I couldn't blame her. With the feathers gone, I looked like some sort of freakish, bald half-human.

"Sorry," she added, "It's just rather unsettling."

{No problem. It freaks us all out.}

The Doctor stepped a bit forward, holding the metal tool up purposefully now. He looked around.

"Do you mind if I get a quick scan? I am rather curious about the technical aspects of the mor-"

{I would prefer that you do not. My people have laws forbidding the sharing of our technology with other species.} Ax interrupted before anyone had time to even think of a response.{ These humans… my friends are an exception only due to extreme circumstances.}

The Andalites were stubborn, almost stupidly so, about their technology. At least we knew why now. The Yeerks had been stuck on their own planet until an Andalite took pity on them. He gave them the technology to travel the stars. Now they were conquering the galaxies, destroying as they went. It was something the Andalites were ashamed of, so they tended to overreact to keep it from ever happening again. No matter what species. Humans included.

I mean, normally, I would have been a little mad that Ax just jumped in without asking any of us. But I kind of agreed with him for now. As nice as the Doctor and Rose had been so far, we couldn't afford to take unnecessary risks. The morphing power was the only advantage we had. If we lost that, we were screwed.

"Right, well, I suppose I can understand that," the Doctor said, "Every species has its secrets."

I finished demorphing, and stood in my leotard amongst the others now. A small gust of wind blew. There was some sort of beautiful smell in the air, and I swore I heard flutes or something in the distance.

"Its beautiful here," said Cassie wistfully, "I almost don't want to leave."

"Best thing about the TARDIS- We can always come back," assured the Doctor. "Or see even more places. The whole universe."

"Yeah, well, we need to kick some Yeerk butt before we plan too many vacations," I said.

"I thought kicking Yeerk butt was your idea of a vacation?" Marco smirked. He sat down in the plants and leaned back against a tree that, well, looked like it had been put there specifically to be leaned on.

I rolled my eyes, ignoring him. I wanted ask about something that, well… I had been wondering about since we first met these guys.

"So- your ship, the TARDIS, you said it's time machine, too, right? It's just not working right because of getting throw into our dimension or whatever?"

"Well, yes…" said the Doctor, suddenly interested in a bush with red and gold thorns growing near the boulder ring.

That wasn't exactly reassuring.

"Once you get it back up and running- we can go back in time, too, right?" I pressed on, "So, like, say a specific event- we can visit it? Change it?"

{Rachel,} Tobias warned.

"Actually, I'm curious," Jake said, "Because how does that work? I mean, what can we change? Are there ways that we could-"

"No, you can't," said the Doctor, cutting Jake off before he could even finish.

Okay, that was rude.

"You didn't even let him finish!" I said, taking a step forward.

"I don't have to," said the Doctor, "It's not possible, what you want."

I glared, clenching my fist. Rose had stopped smiling and gotten quiet.

"How do you know what we're even trying to ask you?" I demanded, "You haven't even heard-"

"You don't think- I mean, there's no way to even try?" Cassie interrupted me this time. She had come to stand next to Jake, and put a hand on his shoulder.

From his place on the ground, Marco took a deep breath, then sighed loudly. He closed his eyes. "Can't this wait?" he said, "We were having such a nice time."

"Wait?! Marco, have you been paying attention at all?" I snarled, pointing at the Doctor. "If he has a time machine, a real time machine, this means we can fix it all, right? Go back before the war even started. Stop the Yeerks from ever even coming to Earth. Stop them from ever even leaving their own planet!"

Marco just kept his eyes shut and sighed again. It was starting to make me angry.

"No fighting. No death. No more nightmares from morphing ants or getting stuck as a hawk," I continued. "Your mom. Tom. All of it."

"I mean- is there anyway? Even if it's risky," asked Jake, looking hard at the Doctor even as he avoided his gaze. "We're willing to take a chance, if it might-"

"Of course there's a way!" I snapped, walking over to the Doctor. I'd make him look at us, tell us how, if that's what it took.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Rose protested.

She moved to cut me off from the Doctor, but I got to him first. He stood, facing away from us, and that just made me even angrier.

"I'm sorry, so sorry, I really am but-"

"Don't give me that crap!" I shouted.

"Rachel, enough!" yelled Jake, but I ignored him. I concentrated on the grizzly bear DNA flowing through my body. Brown fur rippled across my skin as I reached towards the Doctor. I was going make him fix everything, all of it, right now.

Suddenly, the Doctor whirled around to face me. Without thinking, I took a step back. I instantly understood how it was that the Doctor frightened Visser Three.

There was this… something about him had become terrifying. He didn't even flinch as I continued to morph. I didn't want to be afraid of him. I kept morphing, getting taller, stronger, growing teeth and claws and trying to pretend like his sudden rage didn't make me want to run away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Marco and Cassie holding Rose back. She didn't scare me- and the Doctor wouldn't either, not as soon as I finished the morph.

A grizzly isn't afraid of anything.


	3. Marco

Marco

And things had been going so well.

My name is Marco, by the way. The Marco. The cute one of the group. The brains of the operation. The cynic. And I definitely wasn't ready to trust these strangers from another planet, no matter how cool their toys were. Aliens have screwed us over plenty of times before, and I for one wasn't going to let my guard down. No matter how adorable it was when Rose smiled and bit her lip…

And I certainly wasn't about to get my cute face ripped off by Rachel in her grizzly bear morph for them.

Things had gotten tense. I had hoped we might skip that part of the time travel discussion, but I didn't keep my hopes up. I understood what the Doctor was trying to say. I knew why it couldn't happen, but I also I knew Rachel and Jake might not put it together. They were both desperate to change parts of the past. And well, I had watched enough Sci-Fi movies to know that it wouldn't work. I kind of felt bad for the Doctor. But there were few people that I'd be willing to stand between Rachel and her rage for. He wasn't one of them.

Rose moved, ready to jump between the Doctor and Rachel. Which only goes to show that blondes definitely have something wrong with them. Why do they all want to take dumb risks? Cassie and I managed to grab her before she tried to fight Rachel, who was now almost completely a bear.

Most of the time Cassie and I don't see things the same way. She's all about reading people and emotions and feelings. But me? I specialize in facts. I'm good at pushing emotions out of the way and seeing the clear, straight line. The ruthless way of getting things done. Cassie read people and I read situations. Both of us saw the problem, though. I don't know if Cassie had figured out the exact reason why just yet, like I had. But we both knew that what Rachel and Jake were asking for wasn't going to happen.

I was about to say something to Jake. He needed to get Rachel under control, preferably before she got us stranded on some alien planet a few million light years away from home. But then the Doctor spun around, looking furious as he stared down Rachel.

Okay, furious doesn't even begin to do it justice.

"IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. THERE IS NO WAY. OR I WOULDN'T EVEN HESITATE TO DO IT."

I swear Rachel faltered. A girl who regularly tore alien monsters into pieces and who was currently halfway morphed into a grizzly bear took a step back from an ordinary, thin human. It was like a switch flipped inside him. One minute, he was gleeful. Friendly. Human. Now his face looked inhuman with rage.

"There are things that you can't change! Things that you have to live with, no matter how much it hurts!

Cassie and I still held tight to Rose, but it wasn't to protect her from Rachel anymore. We were just too scared to do anything else. I swear the air shook around us.

"There is nothing I wouldn't give to go back! To change it! But I can't!"

I had stood before Visser Three in his most vicious morphs. I had fought in battles that against creatures that most people wouldn't dare imagine. Nightmares were my day job. And the Doctor scared me. This alien who called himself the Doctor. It was as if out of nowhere, an ancient monster had taken over him. His eyes were dark and wild. His teeth flashed like a snarling animal.

"I will help you! I WILL FIX THIS! BUT IT WILL NOT BE BECAUSE YOU THREATEN ME!"

Rachel had stepped back now, but stayed in her grizzly morph. She didn't move to attack or anything. I don't know if Tobias had said something. Maybe she just realized that mauling this guy wasn't going to help anything. I don't know.

It felt like the whole planet had gone quiet. The bugs, the little grey flying things, even the breeze had stopped moving.

Finally, Jake spoke up. "Rachel. Demorph. Now."

His voice had become hard too. Not in the same way that the Doctor's had, but well, Jake wasn't happy either. He had been my best friend since we were in diapers. I knew it killed him that he couldn't go back and make sure Tom wasn't infested. Rachel stepped further back and started demorphing. She took her time though. She wasn't ready to give up on this just yet.

"But I'm sorry. More sorry than you could ever imagine…" the Doctor's voice quaked. It wasn't anger that he was feeling. Or at least, he wasn't mad at us. "But I can't do that. Not now. Not ever."

Cassie and I let go of Rose, and she darted over to the Doctor. She grabbed his hand and I saw that even now she was ready to jump in front of him. To protect him from us. And he grasped her hand like it was all that was keeping him from drowning. Something had happened there. I don't know, emotions weren't my thing. But man, he knew. You could see it in his eyes. I don't know what he had done, who he had lost. There was there that festered inside him until it poured out in a terrifying rage. Something he wanted to change, but couldn't.

"Jake, man, it's sci-fi," I spoke up. Rachel was still taking her time demorphing. "Back to the Future. Marty McFly stops his dad from getting hit by a car and almost stops himself from being born"

"The Butterfly Effect," Cassie murmured. "If we go back and stop the war before it happens, then we never fight them. If we're not fighting the Yeerks, then we don't meet Rose or the Doctor. And then they don't know to go back and change anything. Then we end fighting the Yeerks anyway."

I saw the wheels turn in Jake's head, and I knew it had clicked for him.

{So what? There's got to be another way…} Rachel's thought-speak sounded unsure, but she knew we were right. She wasn't ready to give up the fight just yet.

"We called it a fixed point in time," the Doctor said. He sounded unimaginably tired. Like he hated hearing the words as much as we did. "My people, the Time Lords… There are things that you can't change, even with the TARDIS. Not without unraveling the fabric of the universe."

{Time travel complicates many things. We saw the same effect with the Sario Rip,} Ax nodded. {The events in the jungle that no one remembers but you, Prince Jake.}

Jake sighed and bent his head down to rub his forehead.

Finally, Rachel started looking more human than grizzly. Tobias landed beside her and began morphing human, for her I guess. I always kind of knew Rachel wasn't happy about him being stuck as a hawk. Heck, we all knew those two had a thing. I guess I just never realized just how angry it made her. Or maybe it was just having that hope and then losing it again. I don't know.

Now we stood in silence there unsure of what to say. Ax shifted, his tail twitching. Nobody knew what the proper etiquette was for saying "Sorry my friend turned into a grizzly bear and threatened to rip your face off." Or "Sorry that we can't bend the laws of space and time for you."

I tried to think of something to say to break the tension. "So, uh…" I began. I didn't finish. I had nothing.

Lucky for me, Rose spoke up then. "I tried, once," she said, "My dad. He died before I ever knew him. And I just wanted to meet him, yeah? Only I couldn't…" Her voice cracked, and she wiped her eyes with her free hand as the Doctor squeezed the other.

"It went wrong. Like, world-ending wrong, yeah?" She paused and took a deep breath before looking up at us. "You don't want that. Trust me."

"If there was a way," said the Doctor, "I'd use it. I know it's not what you want to hear. But believe me- I'll still help you stop this. Put things right again."

It was quiet again, except now the animals and flowers around us were moving again. I swear there was like, cinnamon smells coming from somewhere. No wonder Ax liked it. Sighing, I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jeans and leaned back against a tree.

"Well, I'm betting someone who can almost instantly travel anywhere in the universe will still be pretty useful for kicking Yeerk butt," Rachel said, finally completely human. She actually looked a little embarrassed. I'm pretty sure that's about as close as she gets to an apology.

I saw Jake smile a little bit.

Rose even laughed. "I am brilliant at kicking various alien empires' butts. It's actually an impressive list of butts that have been kicked."

The Doctor grinned and twitched his eyebrows up, and now everyone laughed. "Well, strictly speaking, most of them don't have 'butts' per say. I hadn't actually thought about it until just now. Well, yes, I've thought about it, in a casual 'Oh, they look like that' manner, and less from this particular-"

"Yeah, we get it," I interrupted, "Many butts have been metaphorically kicked."

"Aftran says that Yeerks do not, in fact, have 'anything resembling a human excretory system, particularly butts,'" Rose added, giggling. "They release any waste product through their mucus membranes. Etc. Etc. alien anatomy lesson."

Oh. Right. Crap. I forgot all about Aftran. I mean, out of sight, in Rose's mind… I'm sure she had a high opinion of the Animorphs now. After what Rachel did and all.

"Is that a morph, Tobias? Or who you were, before?" Rose blurted out, then blushed. "Sorry, I mean, that's rude of me. I shouldn't just ask like that."

"Nah, its fine," he replied, "This is me. Was me. Whatever. It's a long story."

"I'd be curious to hear it someday, if you don't mind," said the Doctor and Tobias nodded.

"I bet you've got some interesting stories of your own," Tobias said.

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other and grinned.

"You wouldn't believe half of them," said Rose, which made me laugh.

"Puh-leaze. Time travel or not- I'm pretty sure we could out-weird anyone," I said.

"That sounds like a challenge," said Rachel and everyone laughed.

"There's no way you've done anything more insane then we have," I said

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, looking almost offended. Rose smirked.

"Alright then," she began, "First proper trip in the TARDIS, we watched planet Earth's last day of existence. From a space station that orbited around it and all. The sun incinerated the entire thing. The Earth, I mean, though the space platform did come a little too close for comfort."

"Dinosaurs. We watched the meteor hit, the one that killed them all off. There were aliens there, living with the dinosaurs, but we couldn't save them. But we did learn that broccoli is an alien plant. We were only there because a massive explosion tore a whole in time," Tobias countered.

Rose nodded approvingly. The Doctor pulled on his glasses and pointed his little metal wand. It glowed and made a weird high humming noise. He scurried around, scanning us one by one.

"So you have time travelled before?" he asked.

"Ah, sort of. I think technically I've done it twice?," Jake said, shrugging. "A big explosion caused this thing called a Sario rip, which well… we never really got it when Ax tried to explain. You might understand better- Ax?"

The Doctor looked eagerly at Ax. Ax was listening, of course. But at the mention of Sario Rips he had become engrossed by a small clump of flowers. They were bright blue and shaped like upside down daffodils.

Of course, he did have to answer his Prince. {Ah, yes, a Sario Rip is a spontaneous event that can be triggered by an immense release of energy,} he began. {We believe, well, it is possible that is a result of, ah…} He fumbled, trying to explain something he didn't understand well himself.

The Animorphs of the group laughed. For all the tech knowledge and Andalite protocol, Ax was still just a kid like us. Barely out of school, technically just a cadet. He looked down and shifted his hooves, embarrassed.

"Ax didn't always pay attention in school," I said, grinning.

{I was occasionally distracted,} said Ax. {The day we went over sario rips I was drowsy and had much on my mind-}

"Girls," coughed Rachel.

Rose snorted and then giggled.

Ax looked down again, sheepish. {As I said, I was not paying as much attention as I should have been."

This was probably going to be the closest he got to relaxed around the Doctor and Rose.

"Okay, but still- dinosaurs," said Rose smiling. She looked towards the Doctor, who nodded and grinned.

"Sure no problem," he promised.

"Yes!" she cheered, and then go serious again, "Okay, but I've still got weirder."

"We helped Queen Victoria fight a werewolf," said the Doctor,

Rose nodded. "It was roaming the Scottish countryside." She crossed her arms, looking smug.

"Wait, werewolves are real?" asked Cassie, concerned.

"Well, yes. Well, no," said the Doctor, "It was an alien. It's almost always an alien, actually."

"Okay, but it's definitely game on now," joked Tobias. He actually smiled, which was weird. He doesn't normally do expressions when he's in his human morph. After effect of being a completely expressionless hawk most of the time.

"Alright, how's this," said Jake, "Mosquitos."

"An endangered species…" muttered the Doctor, chuckling softly. He looked up and noticed we were all staring at him.

"Uh, it's from a Disney movie," he started to explain before shaking his head. "Ah, never mind."

"Okaaay…" said Rachel.

"Anyway- mosquito morphs," Jake continued. "They were too small for the morphing technology to handle so there was this rubber band effect. Pulled us back to the rest of our body mass, and we got stuck helping fight a war. To help protect these mind-reading frogs- Leerans- from the Yeerks." I swear Jake was bragging. "And the whole time, we kept disappearing one by one. Snapping back to the mosquitos like the rubber band stretched too far."

Rose smiled and bit her lip. It was unfairly adorable and hot. She kept snapping her fingers, trying to think of which story she should tell next.

"One time we were pulled into a different dimension. I helped this girl who could turn into animals break into a secret underground alien fortress-slash-feeding station. We ended up saving Rose and the girl's friends." The Doctor paused, before chuckling and finishing his story. "The password to get in involved Happy Meals with Extra Happy."

That made us all laugh.

"You forgot the part where you stormed into the kitchen right as Illim fell out of Mr. Tidwell's ear," said Cassie, smiling, "You scared the crap out of us."

The Doctor grimaced, then shrugged. "Oh, uh, right. Sorry again about that."

"Still, we made your weird list? I think that means we win," I said, grinning.

"Speaking of breaking into the Pool, though," said Jake.

I groaned. "Dude, we're on our mini-vacation. You're ruining the atmosphere. Which is sort of impressive because wow this place is perfect."

Jake shrugged, frowning. "We can go on all the vacations we want after we beat the Yeerks," said Rachel.

"Absolutely!" said the Doctor, "Anywhere, any-when you'd like. You can go back in time, as well. You just have to be careful. I'm rather brilliant at keeping things in order, if I do say so myself."

"I'm gonna go ahead and suggest right now that once this is all over, we go and meet any and all celebrities we can find," I said. "Cleopatra. Julia Roberts. The Spice Girls. Marilyn Monroe. Do you think she'll sing 'Happy Birthday' to me if I ask nicely?"

"Marco's fantasies aside," said Rachel, "What's the plan?"

"Yes, what is our plan O Fearless Leader?" I said to Jake.

"We'll have to figure out what we know, and what we can do. Pool our resources," he said, and I swore he purposely didn't look at Ax then. "And then decide how we're going to make our next move."

"Right," Rachel said with a grin, "Let's do it."

I groaned, and stood up.

Our group meandered back through the woods to the TARDIS. I noticed that sun was actually starting to set, and the tree's silver leaves and branches glowed golden in the light.

"It really is beautiful here," mused Cassie, "Definitely a biologist's dream. Or at least a gardener's.

{Many of my people have an interest gardening,} Ax replied. {It is thought to be good for a warrior to have a peaceful activity to balance the stress and hardship of battle.}

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Your people and mine have a lot more in common than you'd think," he murmured.

Suddenly, a strong breeze blew through the trees, and the grey leaves above us bloomed into huge pink gold flowers. The air filled with that cinnamon smell again. I heard a few people gasp, myself included. The sunset shown red and orange behind us.

"I could get used to this place," Cassie said. "Anyone would find it peaceful, not just the Andalites."

{Yes,} Ax said, {Simple words do not do it justice.}

"Glad I thought to bring Aftran," Rose added, "She's rather enjoying herself."

"We'll figure out what to do with Aftran once we get back," Jake said.

"Right. She can't very well live in a box for the rest of her life," said Rose before muttering "No matter how much she insists that rescuing her from Visser Three and preventing her from starving to death is enough."

Oh. Right. We had a newly liberated rebel Yeerk to figure out what to do with too. Great. Because we didn't have enough going on already. I knew what the right answer was, but it wasn't going to happen. There was no way Ax would be okay with it.

We reached the TARDIS and the Doctor opened the door. It still blew my mind that it was all inside a telephone box. I'd ask him to explain it, but it's go right over my head. Ax was the only on who might have a chance of understanding the science behind it.

We climbed in, one after another. This time, I made sure to stand somewhere where I could hold onto something. Which was good because apparently the bumpy ride on the way out to the alien world was not a fluke. My friends and I struggled to hang on to the flimsy railings around the center console. Some of them looked like they were held together with nothing but duct tape and one of those swimming pool noodle. The whole room shook around us as once again the TARDIS rattled through space. Or at least I assume it was space. The entire thing shook and bounced like a trashcan that someone kicked over a cliff. The Doctor was smiling like a maniac the entire way. At least now when I said I wasn't worst driver in the universe no one would roll their eyes.

Well, we didn't actually know if he had hit mailboxes, though…

"So how long were we actually gone for? Anyone know?" Jake asked as he steadied himself on the railing beside me.

{By my count, approximately 146 of your Earth minutes have passed,} Ax said, still a little shaken from the trip. {Though it is difficult to say if time traveled at normal speed during out trip. My internal clock would not adjust for such differences.}

"Normal speed?" the Doctor scoffed. "What do you reckon the normal speed for time is then?" His face had formed an expression somewhere between amused and offended.

I guess being a time traveler makes you look at things differently. Rose was laughing again and I flashed my best devil-may-care grin in her direction.

{Somebody open the door. I'm curious,} said Tobias.

He had begun demorphing as soon as the TARDIS stopped shaking. Now almost completely hawk, he stared longingly at the doors that led to open sky.

Cassie was the closest, so she pushed the doors open outward. It looked like we had landed exactly where we started. Like maybe we hadn't even left. Apparently Tobias thought so too, because he flew out to check. We all held our breath, wondering if it still might be some kind of trick. In a moment, he was back.

{It's like we never left, except the TARDIS is now 4 feet to the left of where it started. But it can't have been more than minutes we were gone. The pair of rabbits over in Cassie's field haven't even moved.}

"Are you sure?" Jake asked.

{Are you questioning my rabbit watching skills?} Tobias said, staring hard at Jake from his perch in the rafters.

Jake shrugged a 'no offense' as Rachel laughed, rolling her eyes.

{Yeah, thought so,} Tobias continued smugly. {Just judging by a quick fly-by, we just traveled to an alien planet, spent well over an hour there, and arrived back here where almost no time passed.}

"Even better timing than the other day," Cassie added, smiling. "Do you think it's because you've been in our universe longer now?"

The Doctor and Rose both shrugged.

"Seriously though, that's pretty cool," said Rachel.

"Pretty cool?" I replied, "Pretty cool is the fact that Ax has managed to rig cable TV for himself in the woods. This was awesome. This was spectacular. This was Star Wars level alien awesome."

"OH! I love those movies!" the Doctor chimed in happily. "I'm sorry about the prequels though. Kind of have to take the blame for, well, some of it anyway.

He sighed before continuing.

"I told George, no one cares for the Gungans much in reality, they're not going to like them any better on film... but he just refused to listen to reason…"

He shrugged nonchalantly as we stared open-mouthed at him. He said it so casually. Like he was mildly disappointed with the performance of the local baseball team in the last game. Like it didn't even occur to him that what he said was earth-shatteringly insane.

{George… George Lucas? The George Lucas?} Tobias managed to stutter out.

Rose smacked the Doctor's arm. "Really? Oi, you don't even know if they've seen the films yet!" she chided.

"Oh, ow!"

"I swear, one day you're going to ruin something with your pop culture references."

"Ow, sorry!" he whined, "I forget!"

We all stared at the two of them as they laughed. When they noticed, they only started laughing harder. I smiled. I couldn't help it. Maybe it they were insane, but maybe they were the kind of insane that we needed right now.

Then Ax surprised the crap out of the Animorphs in the room. {Prince Jake, I have been considering the issue of Aftran.}

He shuffled his hoofs, which dinged against the metal floor. {Especially given her pivotal role in… saving my life. I feel that I owe her a debt. I would like to offer her a chance to use the Escafil device.}


	4. Rose Tyler

Rose Tyler

She felt her eyes grow wide, which was definitely Aftran's doing, since Rose had no idea what that was supposed to mean. Apparently it was something big, because Jake and Marco practically had to pick their jaws off the floor. The Doctor was grinning. He looked rather like he wanted to hug Ax, but Rose was pretty sure that was against some sort of Andalite protocol. After gathering himself, Jake nodded seriously.

Rose sort of figured that whatever this thing was, it was a big moment for Ax. His hatred of the Yeerks was obvious at this point. Rose was glad that he was able to see past that, for Aftran's sake, at least.

{It would be completely unprecedented. Well, almost completely,} Ax said, with quick a glance around the room. {But the situation is completely unique. There has never before been a case of a Yeerk working for the Andalite cause-}

"For the cause of freedom. There are a lot of people fighting for that, not just the Andalites", interjected Aftran. Okay, it probably wasn't the time for that. Ax was taking a big step forward, for him anyway. But Rose agreed with Aftran, silently. And the Doctor's mouth twitched, almost into a smile.

Thankfully, Ax simply continued on with what sounded like pre-determined, over-thought speech. {Yes, the cause of freedom. Despite the complicated circumstances, Aftran is our ally. And I owe you a debt,} he finished, looking directly at Rose, or rather Aftran, now.

"But that's a wonderful idea!" said Cassie gleefully.

"So, what is that- the Escafil Device?" said Rose, "Does it have to do with all the turning into animals?"

{Yes,} replied Ax and Aftran in her head simultaneously.

"It's kind of a big deal," Marco joked.

"Us humans tend to use simpler terminology," said Jake with a smile. "Like 'blue morphing cube' or 'the blue box'."

"A bit ironic, yeah?" Rose laughed. "Is it bigger on the inside too?"

In the corner of her eye, she saw the Doctor raised an eyebrow and glanced towards her. But before she could meet his gaze, he refocused on the situation before them.

"With the morphing ability, Aftran could see and move around for herself. She wouldn't be stuck being a parasite. She could be anything she wanted. An entire universe of DNA to experience and sights to see." Cassie beamed while the Doctor talked.

{There would be conditions,} Ax said. Half of Ax's eyes were looking at Rose and Aftran, and the other half looked at his "Prince". Jake nodded, like he expected this, and Ax continued. {Aftran would be required to become a nothlit. She may choose any form, but no matter how trustworthy she has proven herself to be, having another morph capable Yeerk would be too large a risk.}

"It would also eliminate her dependence on Kandrona," added the Doctor.

{Good call, Ax-man,} Tobias said.

Rose wondered what their relationship was like- Ax and Tobias. Neither of them were human, at least not most of the time. What did they do, when the others were at home with their families? Did these kids still go to school? Where did an alien and a boy-turned-hawk live in a world like this? Outside the Animorphs and the Yeerks, who knew they even existed? Rose's thoughts were interrupted as the conversation continued.

"We'd have to vote on it," said Jake, causing Marco to roll his eyes. Rose tilted her head. Was this really something that needed a vote? This was the perfect solution. Cassie obviously agreed with her. She hadn't stopped smiling this whole time. Then Rose noticed that none of the Animorphs questioned Jake's announcement.

"It's too big of a decision for me to just say yes or no," Jake added, noticing her confusion. "We have to all be okay with this. We have to be completely sure."

In her head, Rose heard Aftran speak up, finally over the initial shock of Ax's announcement. {Rose, do you mind if I say something?}

"No of course not!" said Rose, accidentally speaking out loud, "Er, yes, of course- Aftran is gonna talk now, 'kay?"

{Thank you.}

Rose sort of… nodded, in her head, at Aftran. It was weird how she was starting to get the hang of this internal conversation bit. It was becoming easier to just sort of switch back and forth.

"It would be… far more than I ever hoped for. There are no words. A few days ago, I thought I was going to die. Now, I have the whole world ahead of me, and a life to enjoy it with. I wouldn't even know how to thank you."

"You were ready to die to keep our secret. And then you helped save Ax," assured Jake, "Trust me, you don't owe us anything."

"Yeah, definitely," added Rachel, "It would definitely work. The trouble would just be finding a morph for you. One that you'd be okay living forever as." Rachel was right- having to pick a body to spend the rest of your life in would be hard. Even though it wasn't a decision most people would ever have to make… Rose still wondered how that would feel…

"I have seen many of Cassie's memories of morphs-"

"And you're welcome to see more," Cassie added.

"You can take a few days, to think it over," said Jake, "Since the Doctor was able to help with the Kandrona, there isn't such a rush." Jake smiled gratefully at the Doctor.

"Oh, well… it was the least I could do," he chuckled. Rose suddenly had an idea, and she blurted it out without stopping to think.

"She could be me."

Everyone stared. Rose blushed, embarrassed. Did it not make sense? She smiled, biting her lip.

"I mean… there's no 'me' in this universe, yeah? The Doctor and I already checked," she explained, "No me, or any of my family. At least nothing close enough to be recognizable as us."

The Doctor nibbled on the end of his glasses, half-smiling in her direction.

She could tell he agreed with where she was going. Feeling a little more confident, she took a step forward so that she stood front and center before the Animorphs. "I mean, the Yeerks saw who I am, but they won't be looking for me around the entire world. They'd never find me even if they did, not with that many people to sort through." She took a deep breath, "And between the Doctor and Ax and Erek, it would be simple to make up paperwork and information, yeah? To make it look like she had always been around, licenses, history?"

Why did the Animorphs still look so unsure? Rose didn't understand why they weren't immediately thrilled. It was a good idea, right?

{Rose…} Aftran sounded so surprised, so touched. Rose knew it had to be the right thing to do for her.

"You can look at my memories. A whole new fake life, easy. We can take you anywhere with the TARDIS, right? I mean, you'll have all my memories of London, if you like." She looked around at the Animorphs. Rachel and Marco looked pretty happy with the solution. But Cassie still looked trouble, which was odd. Given her and Aftran's friendship, Rose thought she would be the happiest of them all.

"You can use my DNA to go and be anyone or anything you want to be," Rose said, "If you'd like, that is."

"I mean…" Cassie spoke hesitantly, "We don't normally do that. Morph humans. It's different if you give your permission, Rose, obviously, but…"

Rose frowned. "Why not? Does it not work with humans?" she asked, "Would it go wrong or something?"

"When you morph, you're essentially creating a new animal or person," said Jake, "One that you then control. Morphing humans, it makes us feel like, well… Yeerks."

"Oh…" said Rose.

{The concept is not quite the same,} said Ax, {But it does cause them to hesitate, when morphing a sentient species.}

"It's just complicated," said Cassie, frowning. Rose didn't really know how to respond to that. Of course, suggesting Aftran be her had been pretty bold to start with, since she didn't know much about how morphing worked. But if it was going to cause problems…

"It's actually a really good idea, though," Marco nodded towards Rose, making her feel a bit better about the suggestion. Rachel laughed, and Rose took a deep breath, glad she was spared an awkward silence.

"What Xena? You've got something better?" Marco crossed his arms and glared at the smirking Rachel.

"Good idea? Weren't you the one talking about under-appreciating things earlier?," Rachel said, rolling her eyes before she turned to looked at Rose. "It's a perfect idea. If Aftran has your permission, then there's no reason we shouldn't do it."

{It would be simple, with the Doctor's technology,} added Ax. Cassie still looked a little unsure, but the others seemed to agree with Rachel's sentiment.

"And I would be happy to do it. More than happy. Thrilled. Honored. Ecstatic," said the Doctor. "Delighted. Overjoyed." His eyes were glowing softly now as they met hers. It never got old, him looking at her like that. Every time, he made her feel like she had managed to save the universe just by being herself. She bit her lip and grinned. This was why she would travel with him, forever. Because not only could she save people like Aftran. She could save him, make him smile too.

{Rose… this is a gift. A gift I will never, ever be able to repay you for,} said Aftran and Rose blushed, reminded that Aftran might still be able to hear her thoughts.

Outside of her head, Cassie looked at them both, concerned. "Aftran… what do you think? I mean, morphing a human," Cassie said, "Would that be alright? Would you be happy?"

{Are you sure, Rose?} Aftran asked. They were both still focused internally.

{Just live a good life for me,} Rose replied, {Make it worthwhile.}

{I'll do my best,} said Aftran, {May I speak again?}

Rose slid out of the way, letting Aftran take over the speaking parts of the brain. "I think Rose has come up with a solution better than anything I could have ever hoped for. With her and Aximili's permission, I would be honored to accept this arrangement."

Cassie smiled. She was so relieved, and Rose thought she understood. Yes, morphing a human worried her, but Cassie was still so happy for Aftran. Even though she had seen all these horrible things that Yeerks had done, she wasn't going to let that cloud her opinion of this individual. Cassie understood how different people could be, especially among members of the same species. They were friends, despite all that could have come between them.

"Oh, this is brilliant," began the Doctor, and Rose knew that look on his face.

Apparently, Marco sensed something ominous coming too. "Oh no," he said flatly.

"Now, I know we're all still getting used to each other and things have been a little tense," the Doctor continued, "But I'm going to need you Animorphs to let me give you a hug." He spread his arms, and gestured for everyone to come closer. Everyone looked mortified.

"Um…" said Jake, "We don't normally…"

"Come on, everyone together now!" The Doctor looked at everyone expectantly, arms still open, "We'll make it a group hug. Less embarrassing for everyone."

One by one the Animorphs inched closer, looking at the strange alien man before them like he had lost his mind. Rose was trying hard not to fall over, she was laughing so hard.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you, Tobias," the Doctor pointed into the rafters, "Yours is coming next chance I get."

{Great.} Tobias replied.

"I know, I know- you're big tough teenagers and you don't like showing emotion, but this is worth it. Come on! There!" said the Doctor. He managed to snag a hold of Cassie, the closest victim.

As the Doctor pulled her into a hug, Cassie grabbed Jake and Rachel in with her, and they both grabbed the others, until everyone was locked into a sort of very awkward embrace. Even Ax stood sort awkwardly next to the circle.

{Is this customary with your people? I don't understand,} he said.

"No, not customary or anything," said the Doctor, "You are all just very special. Some of the most special people I've ever met, and I've met a whole lot of people."

"Great," said Marco. Being shorter, he had ended up smothered somewhere in the center of the arms, "Can we let go now?"

"Almost!" the Doctor replied cheerfully.

Rose was still laughing when he pulled her and Aftran into the group hug as well.

"There!" the Doctor said, releasing everyone, "Now that we've solved that little problem, the rest should be easy from here on out."

"Right, easy," said Rachel. She worked at her hair, rearranging the blonde strands that had been misplaced by the mass of arms.

The Doctor smiled, ignoring the sarcasm. They were all very sarcastic, Rose noticed. He was definitely going to get good at that.

"Exactly, easy," he said, "Well, easy compared to a lot of things. Point is- we're going to fix this. Together."

Maybe they didn't believe him, not just yet. They would though- Rose knew that. The Doctor, her, the TARDIS, well, they hadn't come across much they couldn't fix. And with the Animorphs, well- she was pretty sure that together, they would save this world.


	5. Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

I have long found the ways of humans to be strange and confusing compared to those of my people, the Andalites. They are at times primitive, yet capable of creating such wonders as the cinnamon bun and movie-theater popcorn. They show great compassion for animals and less intelligent species, but their history is full of the genocide and slaughter of their own. They also fail to understand the benefits of having four legs. It seemd to me that humans must be the most confusing race in the galaxy. I was wrong. Humans are simple to understand compared to this being who calls himself the Doctor.

He was playful, childlike. He bounced from one subject to the next, and showed an unusual interest in physical contact that was uncomfortable even to my human friends. We stood now, in his ship that was not a ship, as he spoke of defeating the universe's greatest threat as though it was as simple as reprogramming a human computer. He smiled as though the war that my people and the Yeerks had been fighting since the fallout of _Seerow's Kindness_ was some sort of game.

But his face when Rachel had become emotional and morphed into the grizzly showed another side to the Doctor. One that frightened me. My people, the Andalites, were renowned for their ability as warriors. Even I, a lowly _aristh_, knew the basics of one of the most important skills of combat- recognizing the strength of an opponent.

"We'll need to retrieve the morphing cube," said Prince Jake, "As soon as possible. Cassie, do you still have it hidden?"

"Yes," she nodded, "I've kept it safe. Ever since… It hasn't been noticed at all." Cassie stopped mid-sentence as she realized what she was saying. None of us wanted to think about what happened with the human David. It had been a… difficult situation… and was certainly the reason that Prince Jake had insisted on the approval of the entire team before agreeing to my suggestion. The Doctor and Rose certainly noticed the awkward pause.

"Since what?" the Doctor asked. His brow had furrowed. I believe he may have guessed that the answer was not pleasant.

"We lost it," Rachel said simply, "But we got it back."

"Right, of course," the Doctor responded. Perhaps the tone of her voice was enough to make both he and Rose realize that the subject was uncomfortable. Or perhaps they simply didn't feel the need to press the matter. Either way, there were no further questions.

"Right," continued Jake, "The sooner we can get Aftran settled, the better."

Agreed, Prince Jake. It would be best to tie up all lose ends before making any further moves against the Yeerks. For a moment, I thought perhaps Rose Tyler, or the Yeerk inside of her, wanted to speak. I must have misunderstood, however, as they said nothing. Sometimes human body language still confuses me, even after all the time I have spent with the Animorphs.

"Exactly. And don't call me Prince."

Yes, Prince Jake.

Now Rose Tyler snorted in laughter. The Doctor also smiled, but he had been doing that so frequently that I almost wonder if it meant the same thing to Time Lords as it does to humans. I am becoming better at human humor, I think. Rose obviously found the comparison of Andalite military hierarchy and the similarity to Great Britain's monarchy to be amusing.

"Not that we want to see you gone, Aftran!" added Cassie, "But I'd feel a lot better knowing you were safe." The Doctor nodded solemnly. I wondered then, if his agreement was intended in kindness, like Cassie, or if his motives mirrored my own. While I owed Aftran 942 a debt, I was also being cautious- I didn't want to concern myself with a Yeerk while also keeping an eye on strangers. Particularly strangers who were certainly advanced enough to exploit Andalite technology, given the chance. I also wondered if they would take our decision with Aftran as a chance to request access to morphing abilities themselves. Admittedly, I was slightly curious. If they were from a different dimension, as they claimed, did they have DNA? Would the Escafil device even work on them?

Either way, both Rose and the Doctor had the tact not to immediately mention any desire for the technology.

"Yeah, Aftran'll be safe," Marco said, "But what about us? What is the plan for the whole massive stopping the Yeerks thing?"

The Doctor's face had become serious again. Not as menacing as when he had faced down Rachel, but serious enough. Prince Jake, too, had what Marco would call his "game face" on.

"Cassie mentioned you were able to access the electrical controls to the Yeerk Pool. And that you threatened to shut of the Kandrona Emitter from there," said Rachel, "Was that threat for real? Or was it a bluff?"

"Oh, no. I could do it. Quite easily. It's a fairly simple system." 

Yeerk technology is stolen, and inferior, in many ways, I added helpfully, I very much doubt it would give them trouble compared to the complexities of time and inter-dimensional travel.

"Technically, the inter-dimensional travel has been accidental," said Rose.

"Right," the Doctor continued, "But if I make the claim, and don't follow through, the Yeerks will refuse to listen, and we'll have trouble. I have to be able to go through with the threat."

"Visser Three will make you go through with it," said Marco, "No doubt there."

"Yeah, we noticed he could be a bit… difficult," the Doctor said. Marco laughed. Not the kind of laugh humans make when they think something as funny. The kind they do when things are difficult, but expected. No one else laughed.

"But going through with it isn't the issue, actually turning off the Kandrona, isn't the difficult part," said Prince Jake, "I mean, if I understand correctly, it should be like flipping off a light switch for you. We'd have to get back into the Pool, but if the TARDIS can get there as easily as it gets to other planets…"

"It's not turning off the Kandrona that's the problem." Cassie spoke up now. She glanced over at the Doctor, and he nodded in agreement.

"Exactly," he said, "It's what happens after."

Yeerks will die, I said simply, Visser Three and the Council of Thirteen will, of course, refuse to negotiate. Until the cost becomes to great for the Yeerk Empire to handle.

"Exactly. Yeerks will die. Thousands, maybe millions," the Doctor said, "Maybe even billions. I won't be responsible for that."

Humans too, said Tobias from the corner of the room. Tobias and I spent much of our time together. He as a hawk, and I as an Andalite. We were shorm, closer than friends or brothers. And Tobias was technically what humans would call my nephew- the son of my brother of Elfangor through a series of events made possible by the meddling of the Ellimist.

"After we destroyed the Kandrona source for just one Pool, we saw humans murdered as the Yeerks died in their heads," said Cassie, "That would be happening on a world-wide scale, until the Yeerks were unable to contain it any more."

"Yeah, but if ended thing, once and for all…" Rachel's words drifted out. Even she had her doubts.

"Would you be willing to make that sacrifice? Condemn the innocent to die? Commit galaxy-wide genocide?" the Doctor asked. Rachel didn't respond. Neither did I. "It's not worth the lives lost. On either side," the Doctor said firmly, "And I won't allow it to happen. Not like that."

I wanted to point out that humans would die if the war continued. That the Yeerks were the enemy. That my own people, fighting a war a light years away, were dying as we spoke. The Doctor spoke with decisive authority, as if it was it was his war to fight or suffer through. It bothered me. But I knew that the Animorphs would not be willing to take the risk. Sometimes, I worry that they didn't fully understand the sacrifices that had to be made, that had already been made, to win this war. Often times, they seemed to feel that the life of a few was worth more than the lives of the entire galaxy.

Sometimes I worried that they were right. And I worried what that would mean for my people, and the galaxy.

"So. If we're not going to actually shut down the Kandrona, what's our plan?" said Marco, "Cause Visser Three isn't real big on anything even slightly related to the whole 'peaceful' thing."

"We offer them a choice. Everyone gets at least that," replied the Doctor firmly.

"A choice of what? asked Tobias.

"Well, here's the thing- I've been talking to Aftran for the past few days. I set her up with that lovely box over there-" The Doctor pointed to a small tank in the corner, which appeared to have a modified Kandrona emitter as well as a poorly assembled though-speak transmitter. Poorly assembled, but still apparently impressive effective for someone who knew nothing of the technology.

"And well, being a Yeerk, without a host, is kind of miserable," he continued, "Frankly, it's hard not to feel pity for a sentient being trapped in a body lacking in almost all its senses."

"I mean, even from what Aftran has told me," added Rose, "I can't imagine what that would be like. I'd probably go mad, yeah?" She looked at Cassie, who smiled. "That's why you did what you did? Let her leave you in that morph, trusted her to leave that girl?"

"Yes," Cassie nodded. It didn't surprise me that Cassie seemed to agree with the Doctor. Of all of the Animorphs, Cassie was the most compassionate and empathic. The others say that she has a way of reading people. She had trusted the Doctor, far more quickly than any of us would have liked. Would we come to regret that? Sometimes, I think Cassie might be the most dangerous of all of us.

"So we give the Yeerks a choice. I don't want to say, well, I want to discuss it with Erik, before I say too much. But there's an opportunity to reestablish the Yeerk home world as a place someone might actually want to live. And to work- possibly, mind you, I have to see- to get the Yeerks into bodies that would actually be worth living a life in."

There was silence as we all thought about what he had said.

"It's not an awful idea," said Tobias, "I mean, it's risky, but it's not awful."

"Um, thanks?" said the Doctor, "Not awful is… not… bad?"

"So, like androids?" asked Prince Jake, "You're thinking build them bodies, let them see and hear with them?"

"Well…" began the Doctor.

You assume the Yeerks will accept this choice? I interrupted, Perhaps, on a smaller level, it would be possible. The Yeerks Peace Movement which Aftran was a part of would certainly jump at the chance, but the general population? The assumption that the Council of Thirteen, let alone Visser Three, would even consider the possibility is absurd.

"Ax has got a point. How do we get them to agree to this?" Rachel asked, "I mean, yeah, some of the Yeerks are good-"

She gestured in Rose and Aftran's direction-

"But it's not like we can trust them all to be."

"We'll just have to make an offer they can't refuse," said the Doctor. He was smiling again and Marco laughed.

"They have _The Godfather_ in your universe?"

"Yeah, although, it's not really my favorite, to be honest," said the Doctor, "But the quote felt fitting."

Visser Three will refuse. It does not matter what the offer is. He will sacrifice innocents, and allow the death of a billion Yeerks if it means completing his conquest of Yeerk.

"I have to agree with Aximili on this matter," Rose spoke, or rather, Aftran 942 did. "Visser Three is not one to listen to reason. And the idea of the Council of Thirteen even considering giving up on military conquest is absurd. It would not be the first time in Yeerk history that aid given on good faith was returned with hatred and violence."

"I never said anything about offering the choice to the Yeerk military command," said the Doctor, "I intend to offer it to the Yeerk people. A mass broadcast, spread through the Pool communications systems. An offer of peace, and hope."

At that, Cassie inhaled sharply.

"It's looking like a slightly better than not awful idea," said Tobias.

"If we could get it to work," added Marco, "Spreading a huge rift in the Yeerk forces could be pretty useful. If there are a lot more Yeerks like Aftran. If whatever you want to talk to Erik about works."

"We've risked a lot more on bigger ifs," said Rachel.

"Yeah, except one problem, Xena," said Marco, pointing his thumb at the Doctor with a jerking motion, "He's not suggesting we build robot bodies for them. Are you?"

I spun my head, all four eyes focusing hard on the Doctor. If Marco was suggesting what I thought he was… it was out of the question.

"Well…" the Doctor ran a hand through his hair, "Strictly speaking, I wanted to ask… well, I'm not completely clear on the technology involved, well, almost clear, I still need to check a few things, and well, I wasn't sure if this was the right time to ask, well, alright, I knew there wasn't really going to be a right time, so-"

Dude, you talk _a lot_ said Tobias, Has anyone ever told you that?

"Yes," said Rose with a small laugh.

"_Anyway_," the Doctor continued, moving around to the side of the controls in front of everyone else. He put the glasses on, and studied us. "It had occurred to me, that well, if Aftran was able to escape the three day limit, and have a whole new lease on life, then maybe-"

Out of the question, I said, Aftran-942 is a unique case. My offer was due to her extraordinary circumstances, My tail-blade twitched. I turned one eye to look at Prince Jake. The very idea is an affront to everything my people have worked-

"Yes, yes, you both hate each other, they burned you once and you don't want to risk it again," the Doctor interrupted, "But did it ever occur to you Andalites that you have withheld the one technology that would have actually prevented this whole war in the first place. You told them of the wonders of stars, and then were surprised they wanted to see them for themselves."

Every fiber of my body tightened with rage.

You would insult the one race of the galaxy that has stood against the Yeerks? You, who knew nothing of this fight until a few days ago! My people have suffered losses you cannot even dream-

"Ax," said Prince Jake, "Stand down,"

Without realizing it, I had taken steps towards the Doctor, tail blade held high and at the ready. I stepped backward and lowered my tail.

Yes, Prince Jake, I said, keeping my eyes firmly locked on the Doctor, But I feel compelled to point out that this plan is unacceptable and unrealistic.

"Ax is right. The Yeerks are evil," Rachel added, "No offense, Aftran, but I mean- we've never seen any sign that they might change their ways."

"But there's never been another choice for them," said Cassie, "I mean, Aftran is the perfect example of what can happen when you give them a choice."

She looked around at the rest of us and I was reminded once again of the dangers of kindness. I wanted to speak out. The others, at least, understood the absurdity of the suggestion. The Yeerks aside, the response from my people would be… the ramifications would be catastrophic.

"That's insane. You realize that, right?" said Marco, "I mean, how would we even do it? Line up the Yeerks, and make them pinky-swear to be good before letting them touch the box? Hope they decide not to turn around and conquer the galaxy anyway?"

"We've all done the morphs- flea, ant, caterpillar-" Cassie continued, "We know what it's like to be blind and helpless. How can we ask the Yeerks to live the same way, knowing we have a way to save them from that?"

Because the Yeerks cannot be trusted to hold up their end of the agreement, I reminded her, frustrated that it was even necessary, We would have to watch, individually, that each Yeerk stayed in a morph. And after that? We would simply have Yeerks with their greatest weakness, the reliance on Kandrona, eliminated from their biology.

"Oh but you see! The option to chose, the option to choose freedom! To chose peace! That's the whole point!" the Doctor grew excited, "Aftran, Illim, the entire Yeerk Peace Movement is evidence that given the chance, the Yeerks can be just as good as any other species in the galaxy. Better even! The point is, they'll have a choice!"

I mean, he's not wrong, said Tobias, With the Kandrona turned off, the Yeerks will certainly be lining up to be free of its limitations. We know most of them here on Earth don't exactly like working for Visser Three, at least. But the risk… I think Ax is right. I don't think we can afford to take that chance.

Thank you, I told him, privately.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the TARDIS door. Rose looked at the Doctor in surprise and he shrugged. I saw my friends were just as confused as they were. It was a strange noise to hear with in a ship. Pulling his glasses off (I was beginning to question whether his eyesight required their use or not), the Doctor tucked them in the front of his coat and walked to the door.

"Hello?" said the Doctor, pulling open the door quizzically, "Oh! Erek, good to see-"

"We've got a big problem," Erek interrupted. The Doctor swung the door open wide and Erek stepped in quickly. Rose walked over, frowning.

"What is it?" she asked, "What's wrong?"

"The Doctor's threat to shut of Kandrona, well, Visser Three is taking it very seriously," Erek said, "We're not sure what exactly is going on but the Yeerks are arming themselves. Heavily."

"Arming themselves? For what?" asked Cassie. I froze. Erek paused to look first at the Doctor, and then Jake. I realized the reason for the changed situation immediately. The Yeerks knew only one way to handle threats. And I knew, then, that my friends would now feel as though they have no choice but to agree to the Doctor's plan.

You scared them, I said, Visser Three must have realized that the potential for shutting down the world's Kandrona Emmitters was in fact there. You gave them a reason to panic, I saw realization dawn in the Doctor's eyes. He knew, then, what I had already guessed. I suppose, for him, this would be a good thing. He could convince my friends to try anything now. But for the moment, he looked like he had taken a blow to the stomach.

Erek nodded in my direction before turning to address the others. "We think they're preparing to drop all secrecy for a full-scale invasion."


	6. The Doctor

The Doctor

"So what do we know, Erek?" asked Jake.

He took charge so naturally, the Doctor noticed. It was almost strange- most people automatically took a step back around himself, but if anything, Jake had already subconsciously added him and Rose to the list of people he had to take care of. Jake was used to doing a thankless job, and simply assumed the roll of leader would fall to him again and again. Poor boy.

"No…" said Cassie.

"But why the escalation? Why not just build up security?" the Doctor asked. He felt sick. He had been hoping he would be preventing violence, not increasing it. He had miscalculated, and now the entire planet might pay the price for his mistake.

"Visser Three has been dying for an excuse to go all out since the beginning," Marco replied, "We've always known that. Question is, can he get the approval or the troops he would need for it?"

"He's already got them," said Erek, "Or at least, he will shortly. And all of the construction equipment they've got has been working around the clock on a tunnel, a massive one, leading straight to the subway lines."

"They're going to connect to the rails," said Cassie, horrified.

{Bring people down in herds to be infested,} said Tobias.

Rose moved closer to the Doctor's side, looking as bad as he felt. "We did this." Her voice was flat, stunned and she clenched her fists.

"No," said Jake firmly, "You can't have known this would happen. All this was inevitable. We've known that from the beginning. It was just a matter of time."

The corner of the Doctor's mouth pulled slightly up, into something that might have been a smile. He was so grateful to hear Jake say that, and he gave Rose's hand a reassuring squeeze. No time to look unsure though. People were counting on him.

"Do you have any idea what the time frame here is Erek?" the Doctor asked, "What do we have to work with?"

"Two days, maybe three, tops," the Chee responded, "It's hard to say for sure, but they're going to try and finish the subway lines before moving forward."

"Well, we can travel someplace instantly," said Rachel, "Even if going through time very far isn't an option yet. We go in, we turn off the Kandrona, we get out."

The Doctor opened his mouth to correct her, but Cassie beat him to it. "But that still leaves the problem of what happens next," she said. "The idea was to minimalize loss of life. If we just shut down the Kandrona, they'll try and contain it, at least at first."

"Same problem as last time," Jake said, "Humans will start dying. They might go for a full-scale invasion anyway."

"Then we don't have a choice," said Rachel. "We can't fight an all-out war against the Yeerks. We're barely hanging on as it is. The morphing technology is the only advantage we've had this entire time. The only thing that's kept us alive. But it won't be enough in an all out war."

"It's not the only thing. Not anymore," said the Doctor. "You've got me now."

That didn't exactly seem to cheer anyone up. None of the Animorphs would even look up, except for Marco, who was studying him closely. He was being subtle about it, sure, but the Doctor could feel Marco's eyes on him whenever he turned to look in another direction.

"What if…" began Cassie, slowly, "I mean… obviously, you have a way of giving this to large groups of Yeerks, if you're considering this even a little…"

The Animorphs turned and looked at her. She was so unsure, spoke so carefully. Did she even realize how good of instincts she had? The others did. Jake watched her speak calmly, and none of the others interrupted, despite how slowly her words came. "Well, what if we just gave it to the members of the Yeerk Peace Movement? If Illim and Aftran could enter the Pool, organize everyone some how. I mean, there is some limited awareness as a Yeerk, we know that much…"

"Seeing that could be enough to start a rebellion within the Yeerk forces," said Marco thoughtfully. "I mean, it' s completely insane, and there's no way it would work, but if it did, the Yeerks wouldn't just be fighting us anymore."

The Doctor allowed himself to smile, just a little. From his place on the railing, Jake shifted, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked thoughtful, serious. It almost reminded the Doctor of himself. That wasn't a pleasant thought, not really. But maybe he could help this boy in a way he was never able to help himself. Maybe he could keep Jake from becoming, well… just like him.

The Doctor brushed those thoughts aside as Jake spoke up now. "Do we have the ability to do that? I mean, is it even possible?"

"How would we even go about doing this? How could we even begin to make it work?" said Marco, "I mean, assuming we don't decide you're completely insane and decide to listen instead. How do you get enough Yeerks to have the morphing ability that it actually makes a difference?"

{That is, if we're seriously considering this as an option,} said Tobias, {And it might be our only option, if we want to keep as many people alive as possible.}

"We have to consider it," said Cassie simply.

The Doctor saw the wheels turning in the Animorphs heads, and despite the awfulness of the situation, he was proud of them. They were terrified. They had been fighting a losing battle since day one, but they were still willing to consider a solution that went against everything that had kept them alive. Cassie got it, at least. He knew she would. With everything he had seen of her, everything Aftran had told him, and he knew that Cassie the Animorph was capable of not only seeing the peaceful solution, but also showing her friends what the possibility could mean for all of them. He'd never met someone who had such powerful empathy and understanding. He probably never would again, come to think of it. Meeting her first hadn't been chance. Her trust in the Doctor, and his faith in her, well, it might just save this universe.

"How would it work?" asked Jake, looking towards the Doctor, "We need to know if giving the Yeerk Peace Movement the morphing ability can be done before we worry about if it should be."

The Doctor nodded and pulled on his glasses. He turned to a monitor on the control station and started pushing buttons, bringing up the technical data. He gestured to Erek to come look. Erek walked over. He had been quiet this whole time, the Doctor noted. Maybe he thought it wasn't his place to say anything. Which was ridiculous, in the Doctor's opinion. It was as much the Chee's planet as the humans at this point.

"There's two tricks to this," he began, pulling up the data the TARDIS had collected from the Animorphs morphing. "Getting the Yeerks the morphing technology and making sure they become… nothlits, was it? The latter is easy if we take out the Kandrona- morphing does nothing to stop the original body's energy needs."

"If they don't stay in a morph, they'll starve after three days," said Marco, nodding, "Smart. It certainly forces their hand. Makes things simpler as far as that goes."

"The Yeerks would riot," said Aftran, speaking again from Rose's mouth, "They are already desperate for ways to escape the Pool and experience the world- it's why the Yeerk Peace Movement is as small as it is. Couple that with the threat of starvation… Visser Three would never be able to keep the population under control."

"Yeerk on Yeerk fighting is exactly what we need right now. If they're taking each other out, it cuts our work in half," said Rachel and the Doctor cringed. She was right, but the way she thought about these things disturbed him a little.

Rose nodded, looking up at him from where she leaned on the railing.

The Animorphs turned to Jake. He was clearly given the matter heavy thought. The Doctor knew the idea of a peaceful solution appealed to him. It meant less risk for his brother, controlled by a Yeerk. But Jake was not someone who made decisions based on his own personal desires.

Jake looked at Cassie, briefly, before speaking. "I think it's something we have to try," he said, "We've never had any hope for an end other than the Andalites making it here to Earth in time. This is a chance to not only end our fight, but end the entire war." He turned now, and looked over at the Doctor.

When their eyes met, the Doctor nodded. "If you think this is a chance worth taking, then I say we take it."

Jake paused, and looked around the room. "I mean, we're gonna have to vote on it. We'll decide, together," he added, "This is another thing that's too big for just me to say what we'll do."

"I vote yes," said Cassie quickly, "This is the best hope we have for peace."

"I don't know about peace," Rachel spoke now, "But it sounds like we might just be able to beat the Yeerks, no matter what goes down. I'm in."

Marco sighed loudly and crossed his arms.

Rachel glared. "What now?"

"Nothing, I just know, somehow, things'll go wrong," Marco said wearily, "They always do. But I still say yes. I just hope you're as good as you say."

"Sometimes, I'm even better," the Doctor smiled as he responded.

"We're in, er, uhm, Aftran and I," said Rose, "We both think it's worth a shot. And not just because this one's my ride." She smiled and gestured to the Doctor. When her eyes met his, the smile remained, but her gaze became serious. She was worried and wanted to make sure he knew what he was doing. The corner of his mouth twitched, and she nodded, ever so slightly.

{I agree with Jake,} Tobias said, {This is the best shot we've had since the beginning of all this. Ax-man?}

{I will do whatever is decided, Prince Jake.}

"That's not an answer Ax," Jake replied, and the Doctor respected him all the more for it. Even if he was afraid that Ax would protest further… well, it was clear that the Andalite was being forced to break some of his culture's most important rules today. As backwards and misinformed as they were… well, the Doctor knew it was hard to go against everything you had been raised to believe… "You're allowed to say what you're thinking."

{Then I must say that I do not believe this plan will work. The Yeerk Empire will not give up its hold on the planets and species it has consumed. It is a foolish hope.} Ax paused and took a deep breath, {But until recently, I would not have believed that a Yeerk Peace Movement could be possible, or sincere. I would not have believed that I would owe a Yeerk my life. Or that the technology I have seen the Doctor use could be possible. And so I am forced to rethink what I would normally believe.}

He turned and looked straight at the Doctor with all four of his eyes and the Doctor nodded in return. {I am not sure what will happen. But a true mark of a warrior is hoping for peace, and so I will vote to take a chance.}

Cassie beamed at Ax, and so did the Doctor. He was proud of them all. It was silly, perhaps, but he understood that what he had suggested went against every survival instinct they had. Now he just had to make sure their faith in him wasn't misguided.

"So, the thing that gets tricky is how we get the technology out to a large number of Yeerks at once, but thankfully, I am somewhat brilliant. Well, very brilliant- but I'm still going to need Ax and Erek to run over the parameters with me here… "


	7. Tobias

Tobias

The Doctor spent the next few minutes talking technical while Erek nodded thoughtfully and Ax and Aftran voiced occasional concerns or agreements. I gave up trying to figure out what they were about 30 seconds in. I didn't exactly have a degree in "Crazy Alien Technology"; so as long as Ax seemed to think everything was okay, that was good enough for me.

Whatever the techno-mumbo-jumbo, it looked like we had a plan now. One that required pretty much every ally we had to perform their parts with absolute precision.

We were probably doomed.

So now, we were all waiting in the TARDIS, humans, Chee, Andalite, Yeerk, and Time Lord, for Cassie to return from her family's barn with the morphing cube. So that we could give our only real weapon to our enemy.

"So basically, we're all insane," said Marco, "I mean, I know I've pointed this out-"

"This is the 5th time in as many minutes," Jake added.

"But even by our standards, this is insane. We need a better word. Mega-insane. Ultra-crazy."

{Marco,} I added.

"Yes, bird-boy?"

{No, I meant we could call it- instead of insane. Never mind,} I said.

"I dunno, I've definitely seen weirder," said Rose, "Some of the stuff I've done with him has been absolutely mental."

"That sounds like a challenge," said Rachel and everyone laughed.

At this point, we were in pretty sore need of some jokes. Everything had been too tense. So that basically meant we latched right onto the idea of an easy, light-hearted challenge.

{Time travel or not- I'm pretty sure we could out-weird anyone,} I said.

"Alright then," said Rose, with a determined smile, "First trip in the TARDIS, watched Planet Earth's last day of existence from a space station before it was burned up by the sun. The Earth, I mean, though the space platform did come a little close."

{Dinosaurs. We saw the meteor hit that killed them off, as well as learned that broccoli is an alien plant brought here by a species that died off from the meteor as well. Freak time travel event caused by a massive explosion,} I said.

Rose nodded approvingly. From over by the control station, the Doctor looked up, curious.

"You've time travelled before?" he asked.

"Ah, sort of. Technically, I've done it twice… I think?," Jake said, shrugging, "Sometimes a big explosion does this thing called a _Sario Rip_ and well… Ax never was able to explain it so we could understand."

The Doctor looked to Ax expectantly. Ax hadn't really been paying attention while we were talking since the Doctor had allowed him to look over the TARDIS controls, and only looked up when Jake said his name. He straightened to attention.

{Ah, yes, a _Sario Rip_ is an event that can occur due to a large release of energy, such as during an explosion…} he said, fumbling to find the right words, {We believe, well, it is thought to be a result of, ah…}

I had to laugh as he now tried and failed to appear knowledgeable and impressive. For all the tech knowledge and Andalite protocol, Ax was still just a kid like us. Barely out of school, just a cadet. Finally, he looked down and shifted his hooves, embarrassed.

"Ax didn't always pay attention in school," said Marco, grinning.

{I was occasionally distracted,} said Ax, {I would be tired, and there were many things on my mind-}

"Girls," said Rachel with a loud, fake cough, and everyone laughed.

Ax stilled looked a little sheepish, but I could tell he wasn't as tense as he had been when we first entered the TARDIS. I was glad for that. I didn't want him to be worried this whole time…

"Okay, but still- dinosaurs," said Rose with a smile and a nod to the Doctor, "We should go see those some time. But I've still got weirder."

"We helped Queen Victoria fight an alien werewolf that was roaming the Scottish countryside," said the Doctor, and Rose nodded.

She crossed her arms, looking smug.

"Oh, it's definitely game on now," said Marco.

"Alright, how's this," said Jake, "Mosquitos."

"An endangered species to aliens…" muttered the Doctor with a smile, and we all, even Rose, looked at him like he was crazy.

"Uh, it's a Disney movie," he started to explain, then shook his head, "Ah, never mind."

"Okaaay…" said Rachel.

"Anyway- mosquito morphs. They were too small for the technology to handle, and it had this rubber band effect- pulled us back to the rest of our body mass, and we ended up having to fight a war to help protect mind-reading frogs in a massive, acid-trip colored coral reef," Jake said, smiling, "All the while we were pulled back one by one to the mosquito bodies like the rubber band was snapping."

Rose bit her lip and smiled, before looking down and snapping her fingers, probably trying to think of which story she should tell. The Doctor fiddled with something in front of him, just out of my line of sight.

{We are having a weird off with alien time travelers, and winning,} I said, and I saw Rachel roll her eyes, {This is what our lives have come to.}

Everyone laughed. Then, with a loud creak, the door to the TARDIS opened, and Cassie stepped in, holding a crushed, dirty paper bag in one hand. She held it up and smiled.

"Sorry it took so long," she said, slightly out of breath, "I had to make sure my parents didn't see me. They were still working with the animals, and I'm supposed to be in my room doing homework. They'd think it was pretty weird if I was pulling apart on of the old pipes in the barn and then running back into the woods."

"Ah, yes, the glamorous life of an Animorph," said Marco sarcastically, "Lying to parents, never sleeping, failing classes, and constant terror. I don't know why more people don't live like this."

"Yeah, pretty much," said Cassie, shrugging, "But I've got it, no problems."

She unwrapped the brown paper bag. With my hawk vision, I could see the tiny bits of dirt and mold and rust flaking off the outside. She must have shoved it deep out of sight, which was a good thing. We couldn't chance it being discovered by the wrong person. Then her hand emerged, holding a luminescent blue box, completely free of any mess.

"Ah," said Rose, "Yeah, that's definitely a blue box."

"Apparently, the universe likes its little jokes," said Jake with a sigh and shrug.

The Doctor pulled out his glasses again, and straightened them on his face. He had probably taken them on and off 10 times since we had met him. Apparently that was a thing of his. He leaned forward, but stopped himself from running over immediately. Instead, he turned to Ax.

"May I…?" he said, one eyebrow raised slightly.

He was curious, but he'd at least figured out that he should be respectful of Andalites and their rules about their technology now. Ax certainly appreciated the gesture, anyway.

{Yes,} said Ax, nodding, {But be careful not to interfere with the molecular structures related to the Zero Space connectivity, or you could disable the device.}

"Right," said the Doctor, who nodded as though that made perfect sense, and pursed his lips together.

Cassie walked up to hand him the morphing cube, and he took it from her gingerly. The Doctor held it carefully in one hand and took out his sonic screwdriver with the other. He stared intently as the tip of the screwdriver glowed and made a strange whirring, whistling noise. For a brief moment, I thought I saw the cube change color just a hair, but then it was back to normal. Erek also walked over now, staring curiously.

"You know, I don't think I've ever actually seen this thing," he said, looking over the Doctor's shoulder, "The Andalites really do have a lovely sense of color and aesthetic when it comes to their technology."

"Mmhmm," said the Doctor, still staring at the morphing cube.

"You think you can make it work? For this _insane_-" said Rose, with a quick nod and grin to Marco, "-plan of yours?"

Marco rolled his eyes. Granted, he was right- the plan was completely insane, even by our standards. We had just been trying to distract ourselves with humor to keep from freaking out over how impossible it all sounded.

First- contact Mr. Tidwell and Illim, and get a message out to Yeerk Peace Movement. They needed to be ready to act as soon as possible. We weren't telling them exactly what was happening, only to have all members possible meet up on the far side of the Pool and get ready to form… well, a congo line of Yeerks, for lack of a better word, as soon as they got the signal.

After we were sure the message had been relayed, the Doctor was going to open up an unused entrance to the Yeerk Pool, and we- the Animorphs, Aftran, Erek, the Doctor, and Rose- would head down the Yeerk Pool. We, the Animorphs, were going to provide a distraction. That is to say, we were going to do what we normally do when we end up down in that hell hole- morph something dangerous and create as much chaos as possible.

While we were trying not to die, Erek would use his hologram to get Aftran into the Pool to alert the Yeerk Peace Movement that it was time, and then he and Ax would proceed with the morphing cube to the far side of the Pool to give the Peace Movement the morphing technology- all hopefully without any other Yeerks being aware what was happening. Supposedly, it was possible for the Doctor to modify the cube so that all as long as the Yeerks were in physical contact with each other, only one of them would need to be touching the cube in order for the entire group to gain the morphing power.

Then, while all this is going on, the Doctor would once again make his way to the main Yeerk Pool control room. He seemed pretty confident that he could get there with no problems, and at this point we had decided just to believe him. From there, he would broadcast the message to every Pool on Earth, and throughout the Yeerk Empire- the Kandrona sources on Earth were shut down, and if the Yeerks agreed to peace, they would be given an escape from their lives as parasites dependent on host bodies and Kandrona rays. We decided not to give specifics on what that escape entailed just yet- we wanted to let the word that morphing was an option spread by the Yeerks themselves. The thing was- if the Kandrona was shut down, the Yeerks would begin to starve. And that was the key to ensuring that the Yeerks stayed in morph and became nothlits- if they didn't, they would starve.

Despite the Doctor's talk about choices, I noticed he was giving them less of one than he made it sound. He didn't want the Yeerks to starve. But he was willing to make a hard call, no matter what he pretended otherwise.

Anyway, then we would, theoretically, escape and leave the Yeerks in chaos as they struggled to decide what to do. As far as our involvement goes, it was pretty standard. Sneak in and then run screaming out.

The really, truly insane part of the plan was what came after we left, and it relied on the Doctor being able to manipulate the morphing technology in an impossibly precise manner. Doing things no one had ever dreamed even close to possible, at least according to Ax.

"Alright, let's test this!" said the Doctor, pulling off his glasses cheerfully, "Aximili, if you don't mind?" Ax nodded, and walked over to take the cube. I was actually really impressed with how well Ax was handling this. It was a lot, dealing with the Doctor, and most of it went against everything law Andalites had, and everything he had been taught. He was still clinging to some of the things he knew about the world. I mean, we had already had everything we knew turned upside down when we first saw a UFO crash land into an abandoned construction site. There wasn't much of our old world left.

"And you're sure you're okay with this, yeah?" said Rose, following Ax over to Aftran's tank.

{I think I'm the one who should be asking that,} said Aftran. Even in thought-speak, she sounded nervous.

"Well, there's not really any other way to test this," said Jake.

"Besides, you need be able to fight and defend yourself if it comes down to it," Rachel added.

"Yeah, when- not if- everything goes horribly wrong," Marco said, "It'd be better if we know you can at least have some morph in place."

"Ever the optimists, you lot," said Rose breathing deeply, and she reached her hand in the tank to scoop up Aftran.

"Are you sure you don't want to have at least one morph as a back up as well?" Cassie asked the Doctor, "I know we'd all feel better if you did."

The Doctor rubbed his neck and flexed his jaw, pacing a few steps before looking back at Cassie.

"Ah, well…" he said, shaking his head awkwardly, "No, I think I better. It's just, well, I'm a bit worried about genetic compatibility. Well, no, yes…"

He paused, trying to find the right words, and Rose rolled her eyes.

"Well, let's just say there's a touch of a different sort of morphing in me already, and I'd really, really like to not mess it up."

{Well, that's not cryptic at all,} I said sarcastically.

The Doctor shrugged and smiled apologetically.

"Every species has its quirks," he said.

"So," said Rose, and her voice cracked a bit, "Shall we go on and do this then?"

She bit her lip, frowning nervously. Aftran sat in her palm, out of the tank, so we couldn't hear what she was thinking, but safe bet would be that she was a little scared as well. Standing in front of Rose, Ax inspected the morphing cube, holding it delicate in his fragile, too-many-fingered Andalite hands.

"Alright," said Rose, taking a deep breath, and she held out her hand, "Do I touch it, or…?"

{Simply place your hand on one side,} said Ax.

I thought back to that night in the construction site. It felt like a lifetime ago. I knew my friends were thinking the same. Elfangor, dying of his injuries, had offered us the same blue box, and we had each reached out to touch it, afraid, but knowing we had no choice. At the time, I didn't know he was my father (the Doctor didn't have the monopoly on time travel and dimension hopping. I could have totally won that weird-off), but I still felt a connection. He was desperate, and I had understood that, even if I didn't really understand everything that was going on. I did understand that my life was about to change completely. And all of us had changed since then, and not just because of the morphing.

I wondered if this power, this war, might change Rose. Or Aftran. Or the entire Yeerk race.

Rose pressed her free hand, the one not holding Aftran, on top of the cube.

"Oh!," she said quietly, "It's…"

She didn't finish her sentence, but we knew what she meant. A warm sort of tingling… Nothing involved with morphing felt like you thought it should. After a moment, she removed her hand.

{The device appears to have worked, Prince Jake. Rose has acquired the morphing ability normally,} said Ax, inspecting the morphing cube once again, {But I cannot say for sure about Aftran 942. Not without seeing her complete a morph. It would be wise to confirm with Rose as well.}

"Okay," said Jake, nodding, "Rose are you still okay with this?"

"Yeah, of course," she said, looking around at us, "What do I need to do?"

"Nothing really. Maybe sit down," said Cassie, her voice firm as she began to give instructions.

The Doctor slid over a chair, and Rose sat down. She kept Aftran sitting on her palm, and rested both hands on her lap.

Cassie was the best at morphing out of all us, even Ax. She made it looked like art, and I had more than once seen her talk the others out morphs, even when they were dangerously close to the time limit. Ax called Cassie an _estreen_, someone born naturally gifted at morphing. She may not understand the technology behind it all, but she could do incredible things with the ability.

"Okay, Rose, you might feel a bit sleepy while Aftran is absorbing your DNA, like you're in a trance. That's normal. Now, Aftran-"

Cassie spoke carefully, to make sure she could be understood through the Yeerk's limited sense of hearing.

"You need to concentrate hard on Rose. On what it's like to be Rose. Think about being human, having her senses, her body. You'll be able to tell when the DNA has been fully acquired, so don't rush it."

"Well… something's… definitely happening…" said Rose.

She blinked her eyes sleepily, and slouched into the chair. The Doctor kneeled down next to her, watching her face closely.

"She's not going to fall asleep, is she?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"No, it should wear off in a moment," said Cassie.

"It only last a few seconds, once you're finished absorbing the DNA," Jake added helpfully.

"Yeah," said Marco, "Just long enough to get away from a tiger or grizzly bear or whatever before they eat you."

The Doctor nodded, but he never took his eyes of Rose. In a moment, her eyelids fluttered, and suddenly she looked much more alert. Straightening up, Rose looked down at Aftran curiously.

"So she's got me inside of her now, yeah?"

{Theoretically,} said Ax, {If the Doctor's modifications were successful. So far, it appears to be working as intended.}

Everyone had walked closer now, to see if Aftran would be able to morph. I was the only one who didn't need to move to get a closer look. With hawk eyes, everything is close enough.

"Alright Aftran, now focus on Rose again," instructed Cassie, "Picture being her, what it's like to be human. You've got some of her memories and emotions, so it would probably help to even use those too."

Slowly, impossibly, for having never even touched the morphing cube, Aftran began to swell in Rose's hands.

"Oh, you better set her down," said Cassie, "She's about to get, well, you-sized."

Rose delicately bent down and placed Aftran's rapidly swelling slug body on the floor. Just as she did-

SPRLOOOOOT!

Aftran sprouted an entire, human-sized mass of blonde hair, sticking out over the entire front half of her body.

"Eeeugh!" said Rose, jumping backwards and nearly falling over the chair.

"Ah yes, the wonderful world of morphing," said Marco.

He put a fist to his mouth and swallowed, managing to sound both repulsed and yet amused all at once. With a grimace, he continued, like a tour guide to the worst attraction ever.

"Pretty much just expect a lot of more of that from here on out."


	8. Cassie

Cassie

It had fallen to me to talk Aftran through her first morph. I didn't mind, really; morphing was something I was good at, I guess. And the first time you morph, heck, even just morphing a completely new animal was always unnerving. See, the only consistent thing about morphing was how unpredictable it could be. We never knew which changes would occur first. Since this was Aftran's first time morphing and she was still getting the hang of it, we had to watch in slow motion as human skin and hair spread out over her ever-growing slug-shaped body.

"Hey, uh, guys?" Rachel said suddenly, "This is Aftran's first time morphing. She's hasn't worked in clothes yet." Marco's and Jake's eyes shot wide and they quickly turned around, and Ax and Tobias followed suit.

"Oh, crap!" I gasped, "Rose, do you have any spare clothes, or a blanket? Something to cover her up."

"Or we're going to be seeing a lot more of you than you might like," Rachel added helpfully. The Doctor didn't seem to realize what we meant, but Rose certainly got it.

"Oi! Turn around you!" she exclaimed, slapping the Doctor's arm.

"Ow!" he cried out, rubbing his arm and pulling off his brown trench coat and handing it too her as he spun to face the wall.

"Thank you, sir," she said cheerfully, "S'pose we'll have to fix that soon, yeah?" Rose looked down at Aftran's rapidly growing body, with now had hands and feet, but no arms and legs. A head was forming and the beginnings of a face. Rose bit her lip and tilted her head.

"Here," I said, taking the coat. She was still taking it all in, and I don't think she was sure where to even cover up Aftran's shifting form.

"Uh, thanks. I was sure if I was s'posed to just cover all of her or…?" Rose asked, pulling a piece of hair behind her ear. Ears appeared on Aftran, and a nose. Still no arms and legs though. Where her eyes might have been, blonde hair hung over her face.

"Aftran we're gonna cover you up some, so we don't embarrass Rose too much, okay?" I said, gently setting the coat on top of the now mostly human body.

There was a loud noise, almost popping, which was probably the aforementioned limbs. We all held our breath, waiting patiently to see if Aftran had finished. Then, I heard Rose's voice mumble something, muffled by the heavy brown coat. There was some movement, and Aftran spoke again.

"OH. Oh-ohkay," said Rose's voice from under the coat as Aftran tested out the human mouth, "I think I'm finished."

Naturally, she was handling human speech a lot better than Ax ever did. She had experience with the human brain and well, using a mouth. The coat lifted up into a Rose-sized hump as Aftran struggled to sit up and keep Rose's dignity intact. Her head popped out from underneath the folds.

"S'then it worked, yeah?" asked Rose

Aftran stuck her arms out through the sleeves of the over-sized coat, and sat up, blonde hair falling around her face. Wrapping the coat around her body, she stood up.

"I think so, yes," said Aftran-Rose, trench coat dragging around her feet on the ground.

"Oh that is too weird," said Rose, her eyes wide. She stepped up and stared at her own face in disbelief. She even lifted one of her hands, like she wanted to touch the face in front of her. Her jaw was dropped so far I thought it would hit the floor.

"Yeah, Cassie had to morph me once," Rachel chuckled, "Alligator morph allergy. Long story. It freaked me out too."

"Do you feel alright Aftran?" I said, coming to take a closer to look at her. Everything seemed fine, but… "Any dizziness, nausea?"

"No, I don't think so," she said, looking down and rubbing her hands before nodding firmly.

"So does that mean can we turn around now?" asked Marco.

"Yes, you should be fine now," said Aftran. She played with her mouth a bit and swallowed. "The accent is strange. I'm used to the American, but your body's muscle memory tends towards British." Rose laughed.

"Just be glad I'm not Scottish," she said, grinning.

"Hey now!" said the Doctor as he turned around, chuckling.

"Is there a difference?" said Jake, and both Rsoe and the Doctor snorted with laughter.

"We'll have to get you both some morphing clothes, " I explained, "It's tricky to do, because the Andalites didn't really have that in mind when they made the technology."

"Has to be skin tight," Rachel added, pulling at my gymnastics leotard, "We're the least cool super heroes on the block. I can lend you both an old gymnastic leotard. I think I have some of the ones left from when I was a little shorter."

"I should have held on to my old ones!" said Rose, "Ha. Never thought I would actually need them again for something."

"You were a gymnast too?" Rachel laughed, and I smiled. "Wow. We do have a lot in common. Though you're shorter than me, you probably actually had a chance at being good."

"Won a bronze back in junior school gymnastic club actually," she replied with a small grin, "What was your event? I always-"

"Anyway-" interrupted Marco, "So we now we've got two Roses, which is awesome, by the way-" Rachel shot him a dirty look as Jake shoved him.

"-Oh come on, you know what I- whatever, never mind," he said, smirking.

"The point is," said Jake, "We know Aftran was able to get the morphing ability through Rose, without touching the cube herself. The question is if Rose can still morph too."

And if there's a limit to how far the technology can be linked, added Ax.

"Theoretically, there shouldn't be any decrease in effectiveness," said the Doctor, who was now shiny the sonic screwdriver's light in Aftran's eyes as he scanned her, "Or at least, nothing that should be noticeable in anything under a few million repetitions of the technology. Nothing we should worried about on the scale we're dealing with, anyway."

"So as long as Rose is able to morph normally, Stage One of this master plan seems to have gone off without a hitch," Rachel said, "Cool."

"To the surprise of every Animorph present," added Marco.

"Oh, don't worry," said the Doctor, shooting a sly grin and eyebrow raise in Marco's direction, "There's still time for things to get exciting."

"We'll have Rose try out a morph tomorrow, at the barn," I said. I stepped back and leaned against a railing, pressing my lips together, "Get you both set up with a few useful morphs as well." I thought hard about who was in the barn right now… we didn't have any birds of prey, so…

"We can meet up at the barn tomorrow once Cassie's parents are gone. We're going to have to all skip school. If things are about to get intense, its not going to matter much anyway." Jake sighed. He looked exhausted. Probably felt even worse than he looked, knowing him. He sighed again, louder this time, rubbed his forehead and then forced a smile. "Looks like I don't have to worry about that math make-up after all."

"It's actually a solid trade, if you think about it," said Marco, "I'd rather fight alien invaders than do trig any day."

"So we'll get some sleep tonight, everyone, as best you can," continued Jake. He was focused, completely stepping into the role of our fearless leader, "And we'll meet up at Cassie's barn at 8. You're parents usually leave well before than, right?"

"Yeah, they're gone by 6 most mornings," I nodded, "Erek, are you sure you and the Chee will be okay with this plan?"

He hadn't spoken much since he finished helping Ax and the Doctor adjust the morphing cube. I was pretty sure that what we were asking was well within the Chee's nonviolent programming, but I didn't want to ask them to do anything they weren't comfortable with.

"You're literally asking us to escort people to safety, with little to no chance of violence or even discovery," said Erek with a smile, "In order to save lives. It's well within our non-violent programming. We might even offer refreshments to them as they leave."

"I know my people will be incredibly grateful for what you are doing," said Aftran, "We will never be able to thank you enough."

She spoke solemnly and I smiled. She practically swimming the brown trench coat. It dragged around her feet, and her arms didn't even reach all the way out of the sleeves. She looked a little silly, but I could tell how seriously grateful she was. Erek smiled back. He was sincerely touched by her thanks.

Erek and the other Chees' role was quite simple, really. AsAx and Aftran made sure all Yeerk Peace Movement members were able to morph, and the Doctor turned off the Kandrona, we were going to create a giant diversion and haul butt out of the Pool. The Chee were going to form a holographic safe route for the newly morphed Yeerks to escape. They would give them clothes and find a safe place for the Yeerks to hide themselves.

After that, the Chee themselves would hide, retreating to their underground sanctuary until we were sure that they weren't in danger from the Yeerks.

I was a little worried about so many Yeerks morphing human. But it wouldn't be fair to ask them do anything else and well… the Doctor was working on that now. He was on his hands and knees and digging through an open floor grate, setting aside pieces of alien technology.

"And each of you are willing to provide DNA for our little potluck, correct?" the Doctor said, tossing aside a strange metal… skateboard deck?

I held back a frown, but nodded.

"Yes. It's worth it," said Jake, meeting my eyes. He nodded slightly and I forced a smile. He knew I didn't really feel comfortable with the idea. But we both knew it was the best option for everyone.

"Though this does mean Ax's human morph will suddenly develop an army of strangely attractive siblings," Rachel added, laughing.

My human morph would be considered attractive by your species standards? asked Ax.

"Weirdly, yes, Ax-man," said Marco, "Don't let it go to your head."

Like one of _The Young and the Restless_? he said.

We all groaned. Well, Rose and the Doctor choked down laughter, the rest of us sort of… well, pop culture savvy aliens weren't always a good thing. Ax had a lot of free time in the woods and he spent a lot of it watching televeision.

"Tobias, you need to keep a closer eye on what he watches on cable," said Marco, sighing, "He's picking up bad influences."

Hey, I can't be there all the time, he replied, A hawk's gotta hunt.

"All this space and you chuck things under the floorboards like a kid," Rose rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I have a system!" the Doctor replied indignantly, before tossing another, smaller chunk of metal across the floor. I frowned and walked closer to look over his shoulder.

"Do you need any help?" I asked. My eyes widened when I saw the piles of what to me look liked junked shoved there under the floor, "What are you looking for?"

"Oh, trying to find a specific part of the old chameleon arch. It might be in one of the back rooms. Or the library. Or the other library. Maybe the movie theater…"

"Wow, where do you keep the swimming pool?" Marco asked sarcastically.

To everyone's surprise, the Doctor responded seriously.

"Depends on what she's feeling on that day. Right now, the TARDIS has taken to keeping it downstairs, second corridor to the left, but sometimes it ends up straight down there," he said, gesturing to a door on the far side from the entrance before pulling up a jar of… something glowing.

"Riiiight…" Rachel replied. We all leaned to look over towards the door the Doctor had gestured. Just how big was the inside of the TARDIS? It didn't seem to bother him or Rose any. A whole other universe inside of a box that you could fit on a street corner with ease. I knelt down to try and help the Doctor lift something that looked heavy, absentmindedly brushed a bit of dirt off my jeans.

Suddenly, Jake yawned so loudly that everyone jumped.

"Sorry," he said, sheepishly, "It's been a long week." I sighed. They were all only just barely done being sick. Or brain surgery, in Ax's case. Yet here we were, gathered in an alien spaceship late at night planning one of the most dangerous missions we had ever done.

"You should all go home and get your rest," said Rose kindly. "I know I'd fancy some sleep right about now."

"I'll have to morph back before long now anyway," said Aftran-Rose, "Since I can't yet take Rose's form permanently."

"We'll incorporate the morph clothes tomorrow, so you two don't have to worry about that anymore," I said, "It's easy enough once you figure it out."

"Thank you," said Rose and Aftran simultaneously, causing Rose to laugh out loud.

"Oi, stay out of my head, you," she said smiling.

I smiled softly. I was happy, knowing that Aftran had a friend. They had met under such strange circumstances and yet… well, it was nice to see just how easily a Yeerk and human _could _become friends in the right circumstances. And maybe, though it felt a little selfish thinking it, I just enjoyed seeing somebody else also believe what I had very much begun to think about the Yeerks. That they could be good, given the chance.

All the Animorphs started shambling towards the exit, Erek included.

"I'll spread the word with my people," said Erek, "Organize as many as I can. I'll contact your friend Mr. Tidwell and his Yeerk as well, so they can start alerting their own."

"Thank you Erek," Jake said, "Seriously, we owe you."

"No worries," he replied, "We owe you guys, after all that stuff with the Pemalite ship. But if I'm gonna get you the help you need, I better run. Lots of people to contact, lots to do, you know how it is."

In a blink of an eye, he was gone. The Chee were incredibly strong and fast. And yet they would have to stand back and let themselves be destroyed, if it came down to a choice between that and harming someone. I had to admire that, just a little. The Pemalites, their creators, must have lived in a world with such trust and peace…

"Alright, I'm gonna go crash," said Jake, "See you all bright and early."

"Same," said Rachel, who was beginning to morph Great Horned Owl. Bald Eagles might be impressive during the day, but night was the domain of the owl.

I was wondering… if I might stay for a bit, said Ax, Just in case my assistance is required with any issues related to morphing, of course, he added self-consciously.

"Yeah, of course," said Rose with a warm smile, "We'll give you the tour."

Thank you, said Ax. He was genuinely touched by her offer. I knew he was curious, but Ax would have never asked to see anything else in the ship on his own. Andalites are very… wary of sharing their technology, and I'm sure he was embarrassed to be so interested in the Doctor's.

Rachel's morph was nearly finished. The final rows of feathers filled in, and she stretched out her wings. 

Guess I'll see you crazy kids tomorrow, then, she said and took off, her wings making no sound as she flew out the door, 'Night all!

Don't stay up too late, Ax-man, added Tobias and he dove out of the rafters and banked out the door to follow her. I smiled, glad that they were going to get to spend some time together. I yawned and walked over to where Jake stood waiting. Marco stretched both arms over his head as he followed us. We stopped at the door and waved goodbye to Rose and Aftran- the Doctor was still busy, looking through another compartment of the ship.

Outside the TARDIS, the air was cool. The stars shown bright over-head, not a cloud in the sky to conceal them. I wondered, not for the first time, which one was the Yeerk homeworld. Or the Andalite homeworld. Or the Doctor's planet, Gallifrey, if it existed in this universe at all.

Saying goodnight to Jake and Marco, I walked back to my house and the barn. I was going to have to be quiet and hope my parents hadn't noticed that I was still out. I was already in some trouble for a bad grade on my last English test, they'd ground me for a month if I was caught staying out late. I rolled my eyes, laughing at myself a little. Being grounded was the least of my worries right now.

I reached the top of the hill and the pasture was now spread out before me, empty. My parents had already taken the horses in. I saw the barn in the distance across the fields. The walk out to the TARDIS had been so different. We had been nervous, a little worried perhaps. But we had been maybe just a bit hopeful that things could be fixed.

And the Doctor had slammed that door shut with more ferocity than I thought possible.

He had been so… peaceful. Friendly. Cheerful. I did remember how he was at the Yeerk Pool, when his easy laughter had turned into a solemn, barely contained… rage. At the time, I thought it was simply because of the Yeerks and the horrors they were capable of. But it was clear, now, that the smiles and joy were a cover for something buried deep inside of him. There was a personal reason for his anger and regret in the TARDIS when he told us he couldn't help. Some deep guilt that drove him to act the way he did. Yes, it was likely the reason for his kindness, but it was also the reason for his fury. I had no idea what that reason was. But something had happened, something that time travel couldn't fix, not for him.

He had told Erik that he was 900 years old, and had called himself the last of the Time Lords. How long would Rose be alive for, if she truly was a human like us? Maybe that was the reason for his pain… after 900 years, how many friends had he lost? How many family members? Time travel…

Suddenly, my head spun, and my knees gave out from under me. My head…

Something was wrong. I was trapped, crushed beneath a weight. There were people screaming, all around me. The Yeerk Pool? Why was… where was…

Just as suddenly, I felt my head clear. The images and feelings swirling around in it just disappeared, and I opened my eyes, unaware that I had even shut them in the first place. I took a deep breath.

What had happened? What was that? The stars were bright and the breeze was cool. I sat up in the grass. But moments ago, I had been trapped in the dark, stuck in rain and mud. And now I was fine. I brushed myself off, and stood up. I felt fine now… except that something felt wrong… I just couldn't place what. Maybe traveling in the TARDIS had affected me, somehow. I would have to ask the Doctor and Rose when I got back with the morphing cube. Maybe there was some sort of time-travel after effect…

Slowly, I made my way back to the barn, making sure to keep myself steady. It must have just been a momentary thing, because I didn't feel dizzy at all now. I saw the lights on in the living room, the soft flashing blue of a television screen. My dad was probably reading while my mom caught the end of a movie. I slid open the screen door. Moving quietly, I crept into the kitchen and poked my head around the hallway to look in on them. My dad was sitting slouched over on the couch, his arm wrapped around my mom. Both of them were asleep, a bowl of popcorn sitting askew in their laps. I smiled, watching them for a moment before sneaking past up to my bedroom. I change the old tee-shirt I used for pajamas, sat down on my bed, and closed my eyes. Sat there, and just kept picturing my parents sitting there. So normal. So safe. My mom had even snored a bit, her mouth hanging open. I wanted to remember the way they looked in that moment, a silly as it sounded. The world as it was was about to be coming to an end, and for a few more minutes, I wanted to pretend things were normal. That nothing was wrong.

But something was wrong. Something… I couldn't place it. I shook my head and lay down in my bed. I didn't expect to sleep, not really, but I wanted to try. Something… well, something felt off, but that was probably just because I was trying not to think about how terrified I was about tomorrow. I just needed to focus and to do that, I needed rest. So I rolled over and pulled the blankets over my head, hoping that sleep would come sooner rather than later.


	9. The Doctor (Ch 9)

The Doctor

"So," began Rose, after shutting the door behind Ax, "Now that everyone is gone, and Aftran's agreed to give us a bit of privacy, are you going to tell me what's really going on here?"

"Well…" said the Doctor. He wandered around the TARDIS console, stopping on the opposite side to fiddle with some levers, "Right now we're working on a plan to stop an alien empire built on slavery the slavery of other species..."

"Oh shut it, " she said, "You know what I mean. The lights keep flicking on and off in here, I haven't slept in days, and you're not telling me or them everything. They think the TARDIS is just having a little engine trouble- you think they'll like being lied to twice now?"

"I've never lied. I just… didn't tell them anything I wasn't sure about."

Rose crossed her arms and stared him down. She was right of course- it wasn't often that she wasn't these days. Things weren't right. They hadn't been since they had dragged here. He had just been stalling until she noticed, or rather until she demanded an answer. He sighed and rubbed his forehead, leaning back against the railing.

"What, what is it?" she said. She uncrossed her arms and starting walking over towards him. Not angry anymore, but concerned. As she put a hand on her hand on his shoulder, he sighed again.

"The TARDIS is dying. Something's been sucking away the power ever since we crashed through to this universe. Or were pulled through, I haven't quite figured that part out yet."

"Pulled? Rose asked, "What do you mean pulled?"

"I don't know," The Doctor stood up and put on his glasses. He glanced over what was left of the functioning sensors. The answer was always the same, no matter how many tests he ran- something was draining the TARDIS. But whatever it was didn't have the power to pull through time energy through dimensions, so it wasn't responsible for the TARDIS initial entry. And Rose's dreams… something was putting them there.

"What could have enough to power to pull the TARDIS into another dimension though? The last time was because there were holes in the Time Vortex, right?"

He scratched the side of his nose.

"See, that's what I can't figure out," he said, "Because there shouldn't _be_ anything that strong. Nothing that wouldn't leave some trace of itself anyway."

"There is something here, something that knows who we are, knows who I am…" Rose voice faded away softly as she spoke. The nightmares were getting to her, no matter how much she pretended otherwise. He hated it.

"Yeah," the Doctor turned and embraced her. It had been even worse last night. After the first one, Rose simply didn't go back to sleep. She said it was because she wasn't tired, that she had gotten enough already, but… He pressed his lips to the top of her head.

"Nothing we can't figure out," he said softly. She pulled away slowly, then brushed some her hair behind her ear. Her eyes stared up at his with a stern, serious gaze.

"Well, we can still help them, right? Those kids, I mean, they need us," said Rose, "How ever we got here, _they need us_, and that's what we do. Help people," He met her eyes and smiled gently.

"Yeah, that's what we do."

"Good," she said, smiling, "I mean, seriously though. Fighting off an alien invasion and school. God, they can't be more than 15. How are they managing at all?"

"Dunno. It's brilliant though. They're amazing kids."

"Yeah," she replied, and they both grinned. The lights flickered again and their smiles quickly faded. The Doctor wondered if he would have to put the TARDIS into hibernation, until he figured it out. If the power continued draining at this rate, the old girl might die, and he absolutely couldn't take that risk. He checked the readouts again while Rose looked on, her face nervous.

"We won't be able to use the TARDIS to get into the Yeerk Pool," he said, just a bit bitterly, "Not unless something changes between now and then. I should have asked Aximili or Erek while they were here. Maybe there's something about this universe. Those Sario Rips that they mentioned… well, it's unlikely, but I should have asked." He was a bit mad at himself for not being able to figure it out, to be perfectly honest. It shouldn't be this big of a puzzle. If the TARDIS wasn't in so much danger, he might have enjoyed the challenge.

"Erek will get us in safe," Rose said, trying to reassure him, "You can ask them about it tomorrow, yeah? They need their sleep- well Ax does, and Erek's got to get in touch with the other Chee."

_You need to sleep_. He wanted to say, but didn't. She wasn't going to, no matter what he tried. He couldn't fix the TARDIS and he couldn't fix her dreams. They were related, he was sure of that. Ever since Bad Wolf, Rose and the TARDIS had something, however slight, connecting them. And just like the TARDIS's lights flickered, Rose's eyes were losing their spark. Dark circles under them too, and her skin was getting paler. She saw him looking at her and smiled as wide as she could manage. Trying to make _him_ feel better. He smiled back, just as forced.

The lights flickered again. 


	10. Jake (Ch 10)

Jake

We all met in Cassie's barn, as soon as her parents had left. Human, Andalite, Time Lord, Yeerk. Even the TARDIS waited patiently outside. Weird as it was, I got the feeling the Doctor's ship might be... smart enough to understand how important this was. Like some sort of vague artificial intelligence. Either way, all of us were trying to mentally prepare ourselves for the task ahead. Storming the Yeerk Pool and setting in motion a plan that could end the war. Should be fun.

"So Rose, Aftran," I said, "We don't really have time for you to practice most of these morphs, unfortunately."

Rose and Aftran were both human at the moment, so it looked like we had a pair of identical twins with us. They both managed to find some sort of skin tight black pants and shirts that had a strange texture to it. Probably alien. And to the immense jealousy of the Animorphs present, they had some sort of blue, skin-tight shoes. They fit perfectly- like they had blue feet. We would have to ask about that later. Still, even dressed the same; I could sort of guess who was who. Rose was fidgeting, a nervous smile on her face. Aftran-Rose was much more reserved, and stood rigid. At least, I'm pretty sure that was the difference.

"But we need to make sure you have some of the basics available, just in case," I finished. I saw my friends each nod.

"Well, guess it's good I'm a fast-learner then," said Rose. She grimaced. Not quite the devil-may-care smile from the night before. I guess she was nervous.

You have to be careful, said Tobias, Don't underestimate the animal's instincts and behaviors. Some of the urges are intense, and they can catch you off-guard.

"Like the ants," added Rachel with a shudder. I nodded, thinking back to that horrific battle in the ant tunnels. We would all have nightmares about that for the rest of our lives.

"Ah," said Rose, nodding even though she didn't quite understand. She bit her lip, still twitchy. Next to her, Aftran shifted her weight and crossed her arms. I guess because she already knew bits and pieces about morphing, she wasn't quite as nervous. But when it came down to it, she was almost as inexperienced as Rose.

Cassie stood up then. Even though the Andalites invented the morphing technology, she was still the 'morphing expert'. Even Ax said she had a gift for it. So it fell to her to give them the basics.

"You're gonna get three basic morphs," she said. Aftran shifted her weight again, tense. I guess maybe she was more nervous then I thought. Rose nodded and bit her lip, focused on Cassie's every word.

Cassie continued, "A bird morph, something that you can fly with and get in and out of places in a hurry. It's going to have be a crow, sorry Tobias-"

Jerks, he said, There was a big group that mobbed me a few weeks ago. I had to land and morph to get them to leave. Stupid thugs. The Doctor chuckled, and Rose looked up at Tobias, tilting her head.

"It's a bird thing," Rachel explained by not explaining. Marco and I chuckled.

"Right," Cassie said, gesturing to Tobias with a shrug. The Doctor laughed again as Rose rolled her eyes. "But we're short on time, and he's the best option in the Center right now. And unfortunately, Aftran, you'll have to be Yeerk to acquire their DNA. So I guess now is a good time to test those morphing outfits."

Aftran nodded, and walked over to a part of the barn floor that was a little cleaner. Slowly the changes began to take place. Her eyes sucked back into her skull and skin grew over the place where they used to be. Trying not to gag, I turned to watch Cassie talk instead.

"You just have to focus on it as a part of your body," Cassie added, nodding. The black and blue outfit did seem to be turning Yeerk-colored, so I guess it was working.

"I will sell my soul to you if you use that screwdriver thing of yours to make it so we can morph in normal clothes," said Marco to the Doctor.

"Not sure that I can except human souls as payment. The Shadow Proclamation outlawed that. Clause 63 point… 4 I think," he said, a little too seriously to be comfortable.

"It's just an expression, but okay…" said Marco, concerned.

The Doctor cocked an eyebrow, smirking, and Rose snorted. So he was joking… maybe…

SLUUUURPPP

Aftran's human legs, now tiny, sucked into the sides of her slug-like form, making Rose shudder.

"You're sure it doesn't hurt, yeah?" she asked. Grimacing, she bent down and gingerly picked up Aftran off of the floor. Cassie smiled and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Trust me," Rachel said, "If it felt anything like it looked, we would not be doing this at all."

"Yeah…" Rose didn't seem completely convinced, but she turned and looked at the crow in the cage anyway. "So, I just have to touch it, yeah?"

"Uh, not just yet," said Cassie, and she walked over to pick up a jar from a tool bench, "This one first."

Marco smirked. We all knew which one was going to be the least favorite morph the two acquired today. Rose took a step closer to Cassie, trying to see what she had. The instant she recognized it, she yelped and jumped back.

"Oh- oh gross!" Rose said, grimacing. Then she remembered that the sudden movement must have startled Aftran. She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and bent down to take closer look. The jar held a small, shiny, brown insect. One designed by nature to survive just about anything. A cockroach. It scurried around in a panic now that it was out in the light. "Mum and I used to find those in the flat sometimes. She'd scream like you wouldn't believe."

"I believe it. Your mum can be a real- Ow!"

"Oi! Be nice!" said Rose, "She's been… understanding. I suppose she'll freak out when I tell her I had to turn into a bug, though."

That was strange to think about. Rose's mother knew how strange and dangerous the things she did were, and was okay with it. Mostly, anyway. It was a reminder of how little we knew about the two of them. And I wondered what my parents would think, if the day ever came when they found out about all this.

They're crazy useful, unfortunately, said Tobias. Insects can get into a lot of places most animals can't without anyone noticing.

"Just don't look in a mirror while you're morphing," I added, remembering the first time I morphed cockroach with a shudder. "Trust me on that one."

Rose looked at the jar again and shuddered, making a face. Aftran didn't seem as bothered, but at the moment it was impossible to tell for sure. Cassie was confident that Aftran would hear everything we say in her Yeerk form. But Aftran had no way to respond to us.

"They're a little skittish around light, but they aren't distracted by smells the way flies are," continued Cassie. She unscrewed the lid of the jar.

Make sure you don't grab it too hard and kill it, added Tobias. You can't acquire something dead.

"Oh and what a shame if we couldn't turn into the little louse," said Rose. Even so, she stuck her free hand down into the jar and scooped it up, grimacing. "Oh I really don't want to be a bug."

"Remember to focus on the animal itself," Cassie reminded. "If you don't concentrate, it won't work."

"Yeah, I am, I think," said Rose, her eyes squeezed shut. "I can definitely tell it's working. It feels… odd… but I think I've got it now." She was right. The roach had completely stopped moving and lay still in her palm. Rose opened her eyes. She nudged the roach on top of Aftran, enunciating, "Your turn."

After a moment, the slug sort of… squished, which seemed to signal that Aftran was finished. Cassie plucked it off of her back and tossed it into a pile of hay.

"So now the crow? And you mentioned one more?" Rose said, looking over to the crow. "It's smaller than the ravens at the Tower."

"Yeah, ravens are much larger. Their behavior is similar, though," Cassie replied, walking over to the cage.

Crows are worse, said Tobias, glaring.

"I'll take your word for it then, yeah?" said Rose with a shrug. "How do we touch him?"

"It shouldn't be a problem for you to touch him Rose. He's smart. He knows we're not here to hurt him," said Cassie, coaxing the bird out to perch on her hands. "He's a little out of it from the meds too. Hopefully he won't notice Aftran."

The crow didn't seem to notice what they were doing at all, as Cassie predicted. Two down, one to go. And the final morph we needed them to have was a battle morph. Something with teeth that could hold it's ground in a fight. Since our options were just what was in Cassie's barn, there was only one choice.

"It should be an easy morph to handle, even with no experience," said Cassie. She eased the crow back into the cage, then stood up and dusted her hands off on her overalls.

"That'll be good then, yeah?" said Rose, biting her lip again. "So a bird, and then something to fight if I need- that's what you guys were saying, yeah?"

I saw her look over to the timber wolf female in the far corner of the barn. As far as possible from the horses. The Doctor noticed her eagerness and chuckled. Like there was some kind of inside joke we didn't know about.

"Bad wolf," he muttered. Rose winked at him and he rolled his eyes. It wasn't quite a joke, though, whatever it meant. Because as soon as Rose turned her attention back to the wolf, I saw the Doctor sigh. Cassie jumped to defend the species.

"They're not bad at all actually. Wolves are great for local ecosystems-"

"He's kidding, Cas," said Rose. "It's a long story. But I get to turn into one then?"

I wondered what the story was. After this was over, maybe I'd ask.

"Yeah," replied Cassie. "She's a female too. Which is good because it's easier than having two males running around. And we don't have time to stop by the Gardens and get you two different morphs."

But then something weird happened. I didn't know what to call it, but there was a strange energy between the two of them. Rose and the wolf locked eyes, unaware of anything around them. Call me crazy, but the wolf almost looked at her… respectfully. Almost as if instead of becoming drowsy, Rose's touch energized the wolf. But not in an aggressive way. At first, I thought it was in my head. But then they broke contact. And it wasn't there when Rose then touched Aftran against the wolf's fur. If I hadn't been a wolf once myself I wouldn't have noticed it. Then they finished, and Aftran morphed back into Rose again.

"We don't have time for you to test them," Cassie said as Aftran finished becoming Rose. "But if everything goes according to plan-"

"Which it won't," Marco chimed in unhelpfully.

"You shouldn't need them," she finished. We didn't exactly try to contradict Marco on that one; but the Doctor seemed much more optimistic.

"Oh come on now! Have a little faith," said the Doctor. "I have done this sort of thing before."

"Which is weird. But you're running with the Animorphs now," replied Marco. "Which means sooner or later we're all going to be running and screaming in terror."

"Actually, the running thing does happen quite a bit more often than you might expect..." the Doctor admitted, shaking his head with a strange thoughtful expression.

"Greaaaat…" Marco muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

Prince Jake, there are 22 of your Earth minutes until we must meet with Erek and the Chee, announced Ax. He had kept quiet this whole time. I kind of understood that- the Doctor still made him nervous. He also hadn't bothered to morph human, since Cassie's parents were gone for the day. As Andalite, he always looked a bit stiff. He had hung back, standing silently on the far side of the barn.

"Thanks, Ax," I said nodding, "Let's get moving." I didn't bother to correct him for calling me 'Prince'. It was time to focus. We were betting all we had on this mission going well. There was nothing left to do but meet up with Erik and the Chee. And hope that Illim and Mr. Tidwell had gotten the message out. And risk everything on a crazy plan that was only possible because of a time-traveling alien from another dimension. Yeah, nothing too tricky about that… I sighed.

"Well, here goes everything," said Marco. He sighed, looking grim. Rachel was, of course, full of energy, leading the way out of the barn beside the two Rose's. Marco trudged after them, followed by Ax, Tobias, and the Doctor. Cassie hung back for a moment. When she noticed me watching her, she just smiled, and caught up with us. The Doctor held the TARDIS door open for us. For a moment I swore he was watching Cassie, as if he thought something was wrong with her. But as soon as we were inside, he pulled the TARDIS door shut and practically leaped to the center console.

"Allons-y!" said the Doctor with a wild grin on his face as soon as we were all settled.

"Hey!" said Rachel with an equally maniacal smile, "That's my job- Let's do it!"

The Doctor winked and slammed down the lever at the console. Once again, the whole TARDIS rocked and shook. Lights flashed, as we ground to a halt. To me it looked like everything went according to plan. It was hard to judge what qualified as a smooth landing in the TARDIS.

And then the lights blinked out completely.

After a moment, red emergency lights turned on, keeping us from being in complete darkness. The glowing tube in the center of the console was still lit, but it was fainter than before.

That's not supposed to happen, is it? Tobias stated flatly. It was a question, but we all kind of knew the answer. There was a feeling of intense dread building up in the pit of my stomach.

"Ummmm… no… not really, no," said the Doctor, "It is not, no."

"Well then. I'm gonna go ahead and say that 'I told you so' that I was hoping to save for a little later in this mission," Marco said. "You know, after it had actually started." He groaned from his place on the railing.

The lights flickered back on one by one until the room grew bright enough for the red lights to shut off. It was still darker than before, I noticed with dread. Some of the lights hadn't come back on. After checking a few screens and levers, the Doctor ran over and opened the door. Erik, Mr. King, and another Chee I did not recognize stood looking worried. I exhaled hard, relieved.

"Technical difficulties?" said Erik, looking amused, until he peered in through the door. Then he looked more than a little concerned.

"Nothing I can't fix right up," said the Doctor, sounding less convincing than I would have liked. "We're still good to go though."

"Not like we have much of a choice," I added.

"We've started missions worse," Rachel said, somehow still sounding confident.

"Riiiight…" said Erik. "See, this is why it was hard to convince everyone to come help." He gestured to the assembled Chee. There were more of them standing further from the door, I saw. And they were looking less than enthusiastic about what were about to do. I guess I couldn't really blame them for that.

"Hey! We're professionals," said Marco, stepping out of the TARDIS and into a darkened room. It was the former Gap store at the mall. The doors were boarded up, and there were construction tools laying around. But there was still a Yeerk Pool entrance in their dressing rooms. It wasn't currently used, which was perfect for our purposes. Erek had found us an a deserted entrance with an easy exit route for the newly morphed Yeerks. So far, that part of the plan seemed to be okay.

"Yeah, that's comforting," said Erek.

"We'll be fine," said Rose with a smile. She turned to the assembled Chee."Hello. Rose Tyler, very nice to meet you all. You're Erik's family, er, people, right? The other Chee."

"Something like that," said Mr. King, smiling back at her before turning to the Doctor. "And you're the Doctor? We've heard interesting things."

"Oh, well, I am very interesting," said the Doctor, "I'd love a chance to talk to you all as well. I've never met an entire species of android designed for non-violence. I've met the opposite, actually, had to deal with them quite often, and well… they're nowhere near as good of conversationalists."

"Yeah, we'll have to sit down and have tea later," said Rachel sarcastically.

"Splendid idea!" said the Doctor, missing her tone.

"But for now, we need to focus a little," I began. The Doctor looked almost shocked for a moment. I guess he wasn't used to a kid half his age telling him to 'get serious'. Which only made me feel more awkward about it. I got the feeling he usually ran the show, but he didn't fight me on it or anything. The Doctor just nodded. It was respect, way more respect than I deserved. I cringed a little at his expression. He must have noticed.

"You're in charge," said the Doctor. "I'll follow your lead."

I paused, unsure of what to say.

"No pressure or anything," joked Marco, breaking the silence. I snapped out of it, like he knew I would. Right. Time to make sure everyone survived. Time to make sure what I hoped would be on of the last missions we ever undertook went as well as possible. I took a deep breath.

"Right, so, here's where we need everyone to be…"


	11. Rose Tyler (Ch 11)

Rose Tyler

"Right, so, here's where we need everyone to be-"

"Oh wait! Sorry," exclaimed the Doctor, running his hand back through his hair as his eyes widened, "One more thing! Sorry."

"Seriously?!" Rachel groaned. She crossed her arms and shifted her weight on her bare feet, causing Tobias to ruffle his feathers. Thankfully, Jake just shrugged, looking resigned to the Doctor's erraticness. The Doctor spun on his heels and scurried back into the TARDIS to grab the small series of electrodes he had been working on all night.

"Aha!" he exclaimed. He tossed them in the air with one hand and smoothly flipped out the blue morphing box from his pocket, spinning it around in the air before catching it with the other hand.

{The _Escafil Device_ is an important piece of technology that would be very difficult to repair} Ax said. Rose noticed all four of his eyes were staring at the box as the Doctor causally fiddled with it in his hands.

"Sorry," said the Doctor, grinning sheepishly, "These little things… thing-ama-bobs… gadgets, let's go with gadgets!"

"You should just not talk," said Marco, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing, "I mean, I thought we sounded like idiots."

"He has a point," chuckled Erek and Rose snorted.

"Okay, let's focus," Jake said. Rose rolled her eyes as the Doctor snapped back to serious. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aftran do the exact same thing, like a mirror. Okay, the Doctor was a little ridiculous, and the Animorphs and the Chee may still have their doubts. But Rose was going to make sure they weren't let down.

Putting on his glasses, the Doctor took the small electrodes and stuck one on each of the sides of the cube. Once all six sides had a small metal round, a little yellow light lit up in the center of each one. Erek and Ax both came over to get a closer look. Taking the cube delicately in his hands, which had many more fingers than a human's despite being shaped almost the same, Ax examined the Doctor's work.

{I think everything should work according to the plan,} Ax said. After carefully inspecting each side, he held it out before the surrounded audience.

{I explained to the Doctor the method by which I acquired my human morph, and he has come up with a way to use a similar process to assure each of the Yeerks has a unique human form to take as their own.}

"You mean they're all gonna look like a weird mix of us? Won't it just seem like your morph suddenly has a lot of new siblings?" asked Rachel, frowning.

{Not necessarily. The method I used was much… simpler… than what the Doctor has created here,} he said, shuffling his hoofs. Rose though she detected a bit of envy in Ax's "voice". But it wasn't the same bitter disdain from their original meeting. Ax originally seemed like he had the hardest time adjusting to all of the Doctor's antics; but Rose was starting to think that maybe Ax was just having a hard time with being away from other Andalites for so long. From what she could tell, Andalites were completely different than both humans and Time Lords.

"Well, not simpler. Well, maybe. Well…. There's a lot more math involved," the Doctor explained, "See, DNA has a lot of potential traits hidden in it that never physically show themselves in a being. So by breaking the DNA down to it's fundamental components and then sort of scrambling it all together," he demonstrated the "scrambling process" with his hands as he spoke, "Times 5 humans, plus or minus a few million unviable combinations, you end up with nearly infinite combinations of completely unique possible human forms. Well, almost completely unique. Depending on the exact number of Yeerks, we might have a few siblings. And I wasn't sure what to do about gender, precisely, so the Yeerks should be able to choose if they concentrated. But Aftran informed me that Yeerks have much different constructs regarding gender identity and so I'm not entirely sure how that'll play out, but-"

{The point is we won't have an army of clones, got it,} interrupted Tobias.

"Based on what I understand of the Doctor's information, my people will have some very basic degree of control over age, and gender of the human morph created, but most of the genetic information will be randomized," added Aftran helpfully.

{Precisely,} said Ax, {We will collect the DNA samples now, and the Doctor's device will include the sample DNA with the morphing ability.} He stepped forward and held out the cube.

"That way we don't have to all go hug a bunch of Yeerks," nodded Marco approvingly, "So we all just touch one of your buttons?"

Both Ax and the Doctor nodded. Rose and each of the human members of the Animorphs stepped up to Ax and placed their hand on one of the sides. Cassie was the last one to reach out, almost pausing for a moment. But as soon as her fingers touched the last electrode, Rose felt the now familiar relaxed sensation that came along with being acquired. In a moment, it had stopped, and she clapped her hands briskly, trying to sound braver than she felt.

"Right! Should we get started then?" she said with a smile.

"Erek, are you guys ready to go?" Jake said.

Erek nodded, taking the morphing cube from Ax carefully. Rose realized that the other Chee had disappeared without her even noticing.

"Let's do it!" said Rachel, a wild grin on her face.

In that moment, Rachel reminded her of the Doctor, or rather, the Doctor as Rose first knew him. Another lifetime, another face ago. Rachel had a cheerful bravado that hid a great deal of strength… and darkness, too.

Rose shook her head and banished the thought. She could worry about psycho-analyzing these kids later. Forming a line, they followed Erek into the dressing stall. The mirror on the wall was swung aside to reveal the top of a winding staircase into the dark. No one was talking now, and the noise made by Ax's hoofs clanging on the metal steps seemed so loud that it pounded in her head. The Doctor was fiddling with the sonic screwdriver again, and she wondered if he was nervous. Or maybe he just didn't want to have to see it again. The Yeerk Pool.

Rose felt dread building in the pit of her stomach. It was the noise that she was dreading the most. She could hear it, creeping up closer to them.

In front of her, Rachel's shoulders tightened, and Rose knew it wasn't because Tobias's talons were holding on there. Traveling with the Doctor, she had seen terrible things, monsters and nightmares and death and destruction. But nothing compared to the noise of this place. The weeping. The pleading. The screams.

When they finally reached the bottom, Rose was shocked to see a pair of robotic dog-like creatures standing amongst them.

"You're with me, Rose, Aftran," it said, and she realized that it was Erek. Or rather, the Chee beneath the façade that was Erek. The other one was a Chee too, but she had no idea which one. They must have been standing inside their holograms. It looked as if they were standing in a shimmering bubble, only just barely large enough to hold them all. Aftran stepped over closer to Erek, but Rose paused.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" she said, looking at Jake and the others, "I know I'm new at all this, but if you need backup…"

"We'll let you know," he said, "It's probably easier if we don't have an inexperienced person out there, though."

"If you hear us screaming in terror, that's normal," Marco added sarcastically. Rachel rolled her eyes. Rose felt someone touch her arm- Cassie.

"I know you want to help, but the best way for you to help right now is to stay with Aftran and Erek and help the newly morphed Yeerks," she said. Sighing, Rose nodded.

"I'll be fine," said the Doctor, "In case anyone is worried about me." He pouted in a faux-dejected frown.

"You better get going," said Jake, "As soon as they realize that we're here, they're going to lock down the control area even more, and be looking for anyone suspicious."

The Doctor nodded. Before he could move, Rose grabbed him and pulled him into an embrace. It lasted only a second before she pulled away. Jabbing a finger at his face, she stared him straight in the eyes.

"You better come back," she said, "You're my ride."

"Of course, he said, grinning, and with a spin of brown trench coat he was off, already blurry outside of the hologram.

"Rose, Aftran, Erek, you better get going," said Jake.

"Be careful!" said Cassie. Rose waved awkwardly before turning to face Erek.

"This way guys," he said, gesturing to Rose and Aftran. He walked toward the edge of the hologram, and stepped through, visible but shimmering.

Rose turned to face Aftran and to her surprise, Aftran was already looking at her. Their eyes met, and Aftran smiled reassuringly. Or at least, as reassuringly as possible from someone wearing your own face. Together, they stepped through the hologram to follow Erek and found themselves looking at another Chee, also maintaining a hologram. This Chee nodded at them and gestured for them to walk through the other side, where Rose could just make out the shape of another Chee. Rose bit her lip nervously, and took a deep breath.

They could do this. She knew they could. She stepped through again, and there stood now familiar true form of another Chee.

"Thanks for all your help," She thought she ought to say something, after all, and not just walk past in silence.

"Our pleasure," said the Chee. This one's voice sounded female. Rose would have to remember to ask for names later, so she could thank them all properly.

Another Chee "bubble" later, and Rose and Aftran found themselves standing at the edge of the pool, where Erek and another Chee stood waiting with the blue cube. Aftran immediately stepped forward and kneeled down next to pool. The water rippled and splashed softly against the edge of the Pool from the mass of Yeerks swimming slowly beneath it. There was a pile of cardboard boxes set off to the side. Rose lifted the flap of one carefully and saw it was filled to the brim with neatly folded clothes.

"We'll bring down more as we need them," the other Chee cheerfully. Rose recognized the voice as the Chee who was pretending to be Erek's father, "They might not all have matching socks, but it'll be good enough to get everyone out safely." Aftran still knelt by the Pool, stone-faced and silent.

"From what I've heard, Rachel will be horrified," Rose joked, hoping to lighten the mood a bit for her Yeerk friend. Aftran dipped her fingers in the water, waving them gently to form ripples.

"You're sure no one can see us here?" she said after a moment. Her eyes stared hard at the wall of the hologram closest to the main Yeerk compound, and her breathing was a bit little shallow. She was remembering the last time she was here, Rose realized, and put her hand on Aftran's shoulder.

"100% sure," said Erek, "Yeerks are centuries away from holograms this advanced."

"You'll be alright," said Rose, "I'll be right here if you need me." The last time Aftran had been here, she was waiting to be tortured. Rose wished there had been another way, but they had to reassure the Yeerk Peace Movement that this wasn't a trap. And help coordinate the "morph congo line" as the Animorphs had put it. Rose gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, and Aftran took a deep breath.

"Okay," said Aftran, and slowly, her skin began to melt back into a slimier Yeerk form. She shrank quickly this time, which Rose was grateful for because it meant Aftran was small before the hair was sucked into the scalp. Just as the morph was nearly finished, Aftran slid forward and dropped into the Pool with a gentle _sploosh._ Rose lost sight of her immediately. After a minute, something was clearly happening, because the Yeerks began to congregate near the edge.

Another minute passed. She bit her nails and fought down the urge to pace. The plan was for Aftran to return to the edge of the Pool and being demorphing once she was sure the Peace Movement members all knew that it was time to go. Rose didn't really know how long that would take, but it already felt like an eternity. There was always the chance that a Yeerk had betrayed them and Aftran would be captured again.

"Relax," said Erek, "She'll be fine… see?" He pointed to a particular slug, which Rose realized was slightly larger than the others and turning into the color of their morphing suits. Jumping down, Rose gently scooped up Aftran and set her back on solid ground, making sure there was enough space for her to become human without falling back in.

As the morph finished, Aftran nodded at her and smiled.

"They're ready," she said, and gestured to the Pool. The formally loose group of Yeerks had become a mass, but they held themselves still. "If you hold the cube here, they'll get started. We have to be quick. Some of them are nervous. They might start panicking and if that happens they'll create too much movement in the water to go unnoticed."

Erek handed Aftran the cube, and she lowered it into the water. Immediately, there was a slight sort of shiver that rippled outward from the Yeerks closest to the cube away into the Pool. After a bit, she lifted it back out, wiped it dry on her clothes, and handed it back to Erek.

"Get ready to start lifting them out," Aftran said, nodding at Rose and Erek, "They might be disoriented. Some of them haven't had a host in years."

At that, Rose heard an ear-splitting roar echo through the cavern, followed by the trumpeting of an elephant.

"That should keep everyone distracted for a few minutes," said Rose.

"We still need to hurry," replied Erek, "They won't be able to buy very much time without getting seriously hurt."

Rose could hear the sounds of weapons blasting and animals bellowing across the lake and she bit her lip, wishing she could help them. But right in front of her were two Yeerks that were starting to grow hair, and so, delicately, she slid them into her hands and set them on the ground at the far edge of the hologram. Next to her, Erek gingerly spread 3 more Yeerks. She turned and rushed back over the Pool.

She had a job to do and Rose tried to hard to focus on that instead of uproar that echoed throughout the cavern.


End file.
